Ellen: The Tape

Ellen: The Tape
ABC
May 14, 1996
Sitcom
DVD
B-

Confusingly, this is one of two Season One (These Friends of Mine era) episodes that popped up towards the end of Season Three, long after Anita (Maggie Wheeler) and Holly (Holly Fulger) left the series.  Anita's parents (TV vet Elinor Donahue and Who's the Boss's Earl Boen) are in town and through a somewhat predictable series of events, written by series creator David S. Rosenthal, Anita and her friends try to prevent her sex tape from falling into her parents' hands.  Meanwhile, Ellen is uncomfortable with the idea that her boyfriend may've talked to her on the phone while on the toilet.  (In a time when people didn't take cell phones, or landlines, everywhere.)  The episode contains four spit-takes, although most of these involve more than one person.  And, yes, it's weird to see Adam again, especially goateed.  (I watched the episode along with its TFoM cohorts and then again today.)  I can't see the main plot happening with Paige because she's presented as sluttier than any of Ellen's other friends, and it wouldn't surprise anyone if she made a sex tape.

Who's the Boss?: Angela Gets Fired, Part 1

Who's the Boss?: Angela Gets Fired, Part 1
ABC
September 23, 1986
Sitcom
DVD
B

For the Season-Three opener, Howard Meyers wrote what is one of the most pivotal episodes in the series.  At first, it seems like it's just a vacation episode, but it's the first real vacation Angela has taken since she met Tony.  (And probably for awhile before that.)  He urges her to relax and forget about work, and eventually she does.  He even throws out what he thinks is a trivial message but is actually about an important ($8 million) account.  Since she's the President and wasn't as available as she promised, the company blames her when they lose the account.  (We find out that the current Chairman of the Board, presumably Grant's replacement, is Donald Stewart.)  Having learned an important lesson about life, partly through Tony, Angela is a changed woman.  She stands up for her right to have a vacation, and so they fire her and replace her with weasely Jim Peterson.

While this episode changed the course of the show, I don't think it's necessarily one of the best in the series, unlike Part 2.  The kids aren't given much to do, although it is nice how Sam asks Angela's advice on writing a postcard to Chad McCann.  In retrospect, yes, this episode plays off the Jamaica vacation episode of three years later, but looking backward rather than forward, it most relates to the one in Season Two where Angela wore a business suit to the beach and didn't stay long.  I do like that instead of Angela getting her job back, as might've happened on a less soap-operatic sitcom, she'll take a different direction with her life, as Tony makes up for helping her get fired.

F. William Parker, who was Mr. Marcus on The Bob Newhart Show, plays Bill Pierce here, while Bert Rosario was twice Reuben Ortiz on BNS, as well as Maxie in The Brady Girls Get Married and Carlos here.  Earl Boen and Howard Stevens make their last appearances as respectively Jim Peterson and Howie Mendelson, although Jim will impact a future episode from offscreen.

Who's the Boss?: Not with My Client You Don't

Who's the Boss?: Not with My Client You Don't
ABC
March 18, 1986
Sitcom
DVD
B

In this Aldredge & Bustany story, Angela has a ten-million-dollar perfume account, so slimy Jim Peterson (Earl Boen again) suggests she get a call girl for the visiting company president.  But the president's attractive young daughter, Genevieve Pescher, arrives instead, and when she sees Mr. February hung up by the water cooler, she wants Tony to escort her to a fancy party.  Tony agrees when he meets her.  But, after talking to Mona, Angela has second thoughts, feeling like a pimp.  She goes to Genevieve's hotel room and the evening goes very differently than Tony or Genevieve expect.  I like that Genevieve isn't presented negatively, as some of Tony's romantic prospects are, and she ships Tony & Angela, although she finds their relationship confusing, as do they.  Note that Jonathan keeps doing weird grooming to Grover, putting curlers in the dog's fur a couple episodes ago and now dousing him with cologne.

Howard Stevens returns briefly as Howie Mendelson.

Who's the Boss?: Angela's Ex, Part 2

Who's the Boss?: Angela's Ex, Part 2
ABC
February 12, 1985
Sitcom
DVD
B

Sternin & Fraser also wrote this second part, which is not as good but still a perfectly fine episode.  Tony gets a job working for a nice, rich, elderly woman.  (How rich?  Well, she has three maids and at least one other servant, but she is rich enough to think Angela lives on the poor side of town.)  It's a great job, especially with all those maids to flirt (and more?) with, but Tony misses Angela.  Meanwhile, Angela and Michael are trying to make their marriage work, but he resents her taking work home.  The Micellis pays a visit, and it's cute how Jonathan and Samantha pretend they don't miss each other.  (It would be in later seasons that she'd be more negative towards him.)  Michael and Angela realize they need to divorce and he, offscreen, invites Tony to come back.  Note that Crunchy Crawlers cereal is mentioned here and in the previous episode, a callback to the pilot.

Ian Abercrombie, who plays Leo the butler-chauffeur, was a Lawyer on Three's Company.  We hear Jim Peterson's voice on the answering machine but Boen does not appear.

Who's the Boss?: Protecting the President

Who's the Boss?: Protecting the President
ABC
January 22, 1985
Sitcom
DVD
B+

Ellen Guylas wrote this story that shows how Angela's personal life impacts her professional life, and vice versa.  It begins with Tony barbecuing in the backyard despite the cold weather (perhaps with the BBQ the household won in the episode where Sam and Jonathan run off to Brooklyn).  Jim Peterson (Boen) drops by to tell Angela the news that her friend Grant has resigned as chairman of the board.  She doesn't believe it, until Grant calls.  Now there'll be a new chairman, McKenna (played by Stahl), and Angela might not be president any longer.  She throws a dinner party for McKenna, but Peterson wins him over.  When Jim not only gloats to Tony, who's playing bartender, but says that Angela is president because she slept with Grant, Tony throws him out into the snow.  Jim claims they had a disagreement over football, and Tony is too much of a gentleman to repeat what Jim said (especially in front of all her co-workers).  When Angela finds out, she takes to her bed, catching a psychosomatic cold and wearing her hair in ponytails.  Sam gives Tony some good advice, and Mona offers motherly sympathy, more than she'd show in later seasons.  So Tony invites Jim over so he can apologize to Jim, but Angela stands up for herself and Tony.

I like how we get the catharsis of Tony evicting Jim, but mostly I like how we see the different characters supporting each other.  It's also a funny episode, including Angela trying to fake an interest in sports.  Note that we don't see Grant, but we learn that she did sleep with him after her promotion.  Presumably their relationship is either over or open, since she's been out with a few men since the pilot.

This is the only WtB episode directed by Harvey Medlinsky, who also did one for The Bob Newhart Show and three for Mork & Mindy.  And it's the 1100th sitcom episode I've reviewed.

Who's the Boss?: Truth in Dating

Angela's secretary Rosie (Diane Robin)

Who's the Boss?: Truth in Dating
ABC
December 4, 1984
Sitcom
DVD
B

Bud Wiser wrote the teleplay based on a story by a woman who didn't contribute to any of my other shows.  Tony hits on socialite Wanda in the supermarket but is hesitant to tell her he's a housekeeper.  Then Angela gets mistaken by a flirtatious man for her own secretary, Rosie.  Things come to a head at Angela's cocktail party, where Wanda brings Tony as her date.  Angela calls Tony a hero for leaving Brooklyn to raise his daughter in a safer neighborhood, but it turns out that Wanda knew all along.  And Mona shows up looking like something out of Auntie Mame, to enjoy the intrigue but also to defend her daughter.  Note that Sam leaves a sleepover because Marci won't let her try on her training bra, foreshadowing an episode a few weeks later.

Earl Boen makes his first of five appearances as Angela's office rival, the despicable Jim Peterson, playing the role so vividly that we can imagine him even when he's just referred to.  (He's less awful here than later, but he does seem rather handsy with Rosie.)

Three's Company: The Brunch

Three's Company: The Brunch
ABC
December 7, 1982
Sitcom
DVD
C+

Things I like about this episode:

• Janet and Terri's "wholesome" outfits and how all the compliments on Janet's offend her;
• Earl Boen's performance as Reverend Gilmore, who I suspect is a belated parody of the sort of hypocritical clergymen who objected to the series early on (he's distracted by money);
• That it finds a way to work both Mr. Angelino (Jordan Charney) and Felipe (Gino Conforti) into the new setting of the bistro.

Things that bug me about this episode:

• There are too many cooks, on and off the screen, with Grossman & Burditt having written the teleplay based on a story they co-wrote with two men who have no other writing credits;
• When Jack sees Mr. Furley fighting with Felipe and then guzzling champagne, why can't he send him home?
• It's obvious that as soon as Larry comes in with a woman dressed like a stereotypical librarian that she's going to go wild in some way, but the pay-off isn't executed as well as the bits with the honeymooners.
• Miss Arlington (Irene Tedrow, who previously was Martha) skips out without paying, despite being rich, and no one notices.

M*A*S*H: Heroes

Again, thank you Google image search!

M*A*S*H: Heroes
CBS
March 15, 1982
Dramedy
DVD
C+

This Mumford & Wilcox story is about the impact on the 4077th of the visit, collapse, and death of boxer "Gentleman Joe" Cavanaugh (Pat McNamara, who played a Chairman on Soap).  And it's a good example of the type of late-run episode that fails to draw me in.  In fact, I was going to give it a C- or a C until Father Mulcahy's hero worship of Cavanaugh was explained.

Tierre Turner, who was Wally Carson on The Bob Newhart Show, is a Patient here.  Jay Gerber, who was a Poker Player on What's Happening!!, is a Reporter here.  Britt Leach, who'd recently done his middle of three Three's Company cameos as Chuck, here plays the Reporter Dan Blevik.  Marty Thomas makes his first of three appearances as a Soldier, while David Orr's first of two is as a Patient.  Kellye Nakahara (Yamato) and Jo Ann Thompson (Nurse Jo Ann) return.  This time Earl Boen plays Maj. Robert Hatch.

Soap: Episode 81

Soap: Episode 81
ABC
March 9, 1981
Dramedy
DVD
C+

So ABC brought back Soap in the coveted 10 p.m. on Mondays slot (previously occupied by the TV version of Foul Play, starring Barry Bostwick, and, no, I don't remember it either).  They aired back to back episodes, screwing up the numbering till the end.  IMDB does not agree with A.S. Berman's Soap book, which I recently purchased, but the former does have the correct air-dates.  My feeling on numbering is that, "one-hour special" or not, if Rod Roddy is asking questions after twenty-two minutes, then that's a discrete episode.

But definitely not discreet.  Jessica finds out that El has been seeing prostitutes because he's got a madonna-whore complex (not that either calls it that), and she tells him that if he can fool around, so can she.  (I'm not sure why she doesn't just kick him out, but then look how long it took with Chester.)  Meanwhile, Jodie and Maggie go to a co-ed bathhouse, where they get information sending them to a "minja" warrior training center in Malibu.  Burt, armed only with a gun and a bat (remember that detail), breaks into the house of the Godfather (not Richard Libertini but J.J. Barry, most notable for his two appearances as Janet's boss Mr. Compton on Three's Company) and captures him and everyone else, including Tibbs (Hamilton Camp again).

Guess who was winning Monday nights that Winter?

Mary is concerned about two of her sons.  (Well, she'd be concerned about Jodie, too, if she knew he ends up in a dungeon.).  She goes to see her doctor, not Dr. Saxon (who presumably has his hands full dealing with Danny), but Dr. Drell (Earl Boen), because she's seen baby Scotty fly.  And she tells Chester, one, he's Danny's father, and two, Danny needs his kidney.  Obviously, Chester is surprised.  (I can't remember if I was when I first saw this.)  We find out that Chester and Mary had sex every night for two weeks, but when she found out she was pregnant, he announced his engagement to Jessica.  The girls' mother was going to have Chester's father arrested for an at this point unknown crime, so she blackmailed Chester into marrying Jessica.

Note that Chester refers to 28 years, but I don't know if this is since she realized she was pregnant, or since Danny was born.  If Danny is 28 now, he can't be more than a year older than Jodie, and if he's 27 1/2, I'm really calling shenanigans on the timeline.  Jodie said at the time Carol seduced him that he was 25, and he later said he moved out of the house at 26.  He would have to be 27 by now, maybe even 28.  But then, look at Billy's fluctuating age.

H.B. Haggerty, who's Warrior No. 1, was The Hammer on The Bob Newhart Show.  James Saito, who plays Hiro, at this point had made three of his four M*A*S*H appearances.  The Major, Danny, Eunice, Dutch, Billy, Chuck, and Bob are all absent.  However you number this, it's the 81st episode and it aired in '81.

What's Happening!!: Rerun Gets Married

What's Happening!!: Rerun Gets Married
ABC
September 22, 1977
Sitcom
DVD
B-

Irene Cara, after The Electric Company and before Fame, plays illegal alien Maria, whom Rerun almost marries so she can stay in the country.  Roger turns 17, while Rerun is 19 and in his third senior year.  (I recall Dwayne as a year younger than Raj, although I haven't come across a line verifying that yet.)  Eric Monte wrote this episode.

Bryan O'Dell returns as Marvin.  Thirty-one-year-old Earl Boen has one of his more sympathetic roles, as Judge Barnes.  Note that the opening credits for this season have edited in shots of the female half of the regular cast.  Also, this show was still paired with Welcome Back, Kotter on Thursdays, but the schedule would change as the season went on.