Bosom Buddies: Cahoots

Bosom Buddies: Cahoots
ABC
April 30, 1981
Sitcom
DVD
B-

This Carrerow & Chambers story would be my least favorite episode of the season, if not for the "lobby scene."  Of course, least favorite for Bosom Buddies does not mean what it would for Soap.  It means C+, since the episode is still full of pop-cultural references, from Gilligan's Island to Sound of Music to (generic) reggae.*  I'm not crazy about Kip and Amy helping each other woo Sonny and Henry respectively, because of the dishonesty and manipulation.  But I do like that Sonny and Henry are on to them and pretend to have fallen in love.  And I actually prefer it when Kip and Amy go back to bickering like brother and sister.  (This is the 600th B- I've given out by the way.)

Waitress Samantha Lewes has only one other IMDB credit, but she was then married to Tom Hanks (making Rita Wilson's later appearance on the show more ironic or awkward or something).

Bosom Buddies in its first and slightly longer season gets 9 B-s, 8 B's, and 2 B+s.  This may not make it the best show ever, but it does make it incredibly under-rated at the time.  And it has aged ever so gracefully, still sharp, funny, and sweet.  The writing, the cast, the direction, and the costumes, are all generally solid.  I know that it's not just nostalgia, because I don't feel that Mork & Mindy and Three's Company have aged nearly as well, although of course they still have their moments.  I'm curious to see what I think of Season Two, which did have a weak episode or two, especially towards the end.  But maybe they will look good in comparison to other shows I'll be watching.


*Re Lilly and Isabelle's argument about the number of celebrity marriages, Mickey Rooney was actually on his last marriage then, not separating till 2012, but Elizabeth Taylor would divorce John Warner in December '81 and go on to Larry Fortensky in '88.

Bosom Buddies: Best Friends

I vaguely recall this show, which aired a
few months before Buddies premiered.

Bosom Buddies: Best Friends
ABC
April 9, 1981
Sitcom
DVD
B-

Chris Thompson wrote and co-directed (with Van Atta) this episode that has another take on Kip and Henry's friendship.  Adrian Zmed guest-stars as Kip's old friend who's become rocker Joey Midnight.  In addition to doing Bachelor Party with Hanks in the future ('84), Zmed had co-starred with Scolari on the short-lived show Goodtime Girls (along with Annie Potts, Lorna Patterson, and Georgia Engel, see picture).  He works pretty well with both men, but the episode itself feels slightly off, maybe because it's weird to see Kip and Henry questioning their friendship.  There are a bunch of rock and pop references, from ABBA to Devo.  Sperber's fangirling of course is reminiscent of her appearance in the movie I Wanna Hold Your Hand.  Ironically, we don't hear Zmed sing anything but a summer camp song with Hanks, although he would sing a lot in Grease 2 the following year.

Bosom Buddies: The Hospital

Bosom Buddies: The Hospital
ABC
April 2, 1981
Sitcom
DVD
B-

In this Carrerow & Chambers story, Lilly has to go to the hospital because of mono, "the kissing disease."  Meanwhile, Buffy & Hildy reluctantly agree to be candy-stripers.  Sonny becomes involved with a blind patient, partly because she likes being liked for something besides her looks.  Henry encourages Kip to tell Sonny his feelings (with some psychodrama where Scolari imitates Dixon).  Kip tells Sonny he's in love with her.  She's flattered and likes him a lot but says love comes slowly for her.  Overall, a nice if not classic episode.  The weird little Portuguese guy probably isn't PC these days but he still makes me smile.  Note that Amy manages the building while Lilly's away and does a terrible job of it, while Isabelle makes everyone shape up immediately when she takes over, foreshadowing the change in management in the next season.

Bosom Buddies: The Rewrite

Bosom Buddies: The Rewrite
ABC
March 19, 1981
Sitcom
DVD
B

This Gewirtz, Praiser, and Thompson story is another of those "not quite a B+" episodes and I guess the explanation this time is that the pace is ever so slightly off.  I laughed, but I wasn't rolling on the floor.  Still, definitely solid work by all, yes, including Dixon and Benson.

Ruth shows up at the Susan B., looking for Amy, so the boys are almost caught in drag.  Henry, who's been writing up their experiences for his "great book" (see the opening credits) tries telling it as it happened and then, with Kip's input, three more ways.  The cast is again clearly having a blast (when the women are supposed to be moving menacingly towards the men, I caught Benson and Hopkins laughing), and it's fun to watch them.  Special shout-out to Taylor, especially her imitations of Carson and Dietrich, the latter with one of the greatest entrances on a sitcom ever.  (An honor guard and two I think greyhounds add to it.)  I remember that the "sex" portion was probably the raciest thing I'd ever seen on a sitcom to that point, even though the most intimate it gets is Sonny and Kip eating food at each other.  As an adult, I'm impressed by all the literary and pop-cultural jokes thrown in.

Bosom Buddies: Only the Lonely

Bosom Buddies: Only the Lonely
ABC
March 12, 1981
Sitcom
DVD
B-

This Carrerow & Chambers story has some good moments but feels slightly off to me.  Ruth invites Kip and Henry over and tries too hard to befriend them.  After talking to Amy and Sonny afterwards, they feel guilty for leaving Ruth's apartment with feeble excuses.  Meanwhile, Sonny, Amy, and Isabelle have found a box of kittens, so Kip and Henry bring one back to Ruth's as a peace offering, and Ruth names the kitten Ruth.

The thing is, the timeline is fuzzy here (yes, like a kitten, only not as cute).  The guys refer on their return visit to "last Saturday."  This implies more than a week has passed.  But wouldn't they have seen Ruth at work in the meantime?  And why has Lilly allowed the kittens to stay so long?

I like the insights into Ruth, from her adoring her brother Lex, "the pink sheep of the family," to her reluctant admission it's sometimes hard for a woman in business to make friends.  In "Gotta Dance," the guys gave her a hug and things felt awkward, but the episode didn't focus on the awkwardness.  Maybe part of the problem is I don't like to see people look so uncomfortable, except when it's funny, like Kip playing bongos while Ruth recites Howl and Henry looks on in disbelief (see picture above).

Note that in the tag, Lilly, Amy, Isabelle, and Sonny are watching Some Like It Hot.  Amy is amused that the other women think that they would spot what Lilly calls "he-she's."  Then Buffy and Hildy come in and say the movie has a stupid premise but the guys are good.  Such tweaking of the very basis of a program was rare on TV pre-'90s, outside of Burns & Allen and Mork & Mindy.  It'd be like if Hawkeye suddenly said something about the M*A*S*H timeline.

Director Tom Trbovich would go on to do The Garry Shandling Show: 25th Anniversary Special.

Bosom Buddies: Kip Quits

Ropers refugee Louise Vallance plays
Kip's luckless replacement and has
some nice chemistry with Scolari.

Bosom Buddies: Kip Quits
ABC
February 26, 1981
Sitcom
DVD
B+

So let me talk about why the first dozen episodes of Bosom Buddies, fine though they were, did not achieve the level of B+.  To some extent, I evaluate programs (and before this, movies and books) on a gut level, though I may refine the grade, so that it will start out, for example, C+/B-, and then through the process of writing about it, and maybe seeing what others have written, I come to a more precise grade.  In shorthand, a B+ is a "Wow!" episode, while a B might have a passing "Wow!" moment.  A show that gets a B (and in some cases a B-) does everything you could ask for, while a B+ does something extra.  This episode does that.

The Gewirtz & Praiser script, as well as Hanks and Scolari's ad-libs, are top-notch.  To begin with, there are references to everything from Bob Newhart's stuttering (which Scolari, guided by director Mackenzie, who had a recurring role as Carol Kester's husband, does well and then lampshades) to Chariots of the Gods? writer Erich von Däniken (not a reference I got at the time, and it made me gasp this time).  The plot again pits Kip's idealism and stubbornness against Henry's willingness to compromise, while recognizing the importance of their teamwork, including at the hot dog stand Kip ends up running.  We also get the experience and realism of Ruth, in what might be Taylor's best performance on the show so far.  (One minute, she's ready to race out of the building to make "the French connection" and the next she's playing reality check for the boys, and she's utterly convincing in both aspects.)

At the same time, the episode is perfectly willing to be silly and playful.  Judging by the friendship that still exists among the cast, I think they genuinely enjoyed working together and that comes through.  (Later, when Penny Marshall guest-stars, I believe there's a tweak about the tension on the Laverne & Shirley set.)  As the boys impatiently wait to hear what the client thinks, Kip taps out a rhythm with a pen on a glass and soon Amy is doing a wild and rather sexy dance, which Henry finds "distracting."  In the scene where Lilly is showing "fo-tos" of her and boyfriend Chucky (an unseen character mentioned on a previous episode) to the girls in the hotel, everyone is throwing popcorn and cracking proto-MST3K.  Even the tag, where Isabelle (dressed like a new-wave Uhura), Sonny, and Amy apologize to Lilly for heckling the slide show, has some good stuff, like that Lilly has an enormous vaudeville scrapbook and once dated a sword-swallower, who took in her entire arm, so she lost a bracelet.  It's as if at this point, everyone knows they're not doing well in the ratings* and they're going to have fun with it anyway.  (And that's the impression I get not only on screen but from what I've read online.)

Bruce Vilanch, who among many other things was a writer for The Brady Bunch Variety Hour, has a scene-stealing cameo as Customer #2 at the hot dog stand.  Michael Fairman, who plays the client Mr. Peters, would soon be Lou on Soap.


*I haven't tracked down an exact number, but the ratings were "mediocre" in the first season and Buddies definitely didn't make the Top Thirty, while The Waltons, which aired opposite this and Mork & Mindy, placed #30 in its last season.

Bosom Buddies: Sonny Boy

Bosom Buddies: Sonny Boy
ABC
February 12, 1981
Sitcom
DVD
B

Leonard Ripps wrote this story that sounds like Sonny will be in drag, but it's actually about the reaction of Mrs. Desmond when she sees Henry and Kip in drag, talking about beating up two punks (in the "hood" sense, not the punker sense).  It's a funny episode, including the early Geraldo Rivera parody, Jesus Salazar, but it also has Henry torn between pleasing his mom and wanting to live his own life.  (And, yes, he's out to her as a cross-dressing heterosexual, but this does have parallels to gays dealing with their parents.)  Still not quite a B+ but it's close.  Some things of note:

• Henry's father is alive but we never get to see him.
• Henry's first big date was at 17, to his prom.
• I can't remember if it was mentioned before that the guys are from Ohio; we'll later learn they're from Shaker Heights.
• Kip always got blamed when the boys got in trouble, and Mrs. Desmond never really liked him.
• Her nickname for Henry was Winky.
• Unbelievably, Kip's mother expected him to go to med school.  (We'll later see what hippies he and his family were/are.)
• Henry and presumably Kip have been in New York for a year.
• We get a glimpse of Isabelle's apartment, and I get the impression she lives alone.
• The rent is $200, up from $150 in the pilot, but still not bad.  (It's higher on Three's Company, but that's a two-bedroom rather than a studio without a kitchen.

I'm guessing someone in casting was a Bob Newhart Show fan, because Dr. Leon is an even more obnoxious gum-chewing psychiatrist than Phillip R. Allen's Dr. Frank Walburn.  Randy Stumpf, who was a Greek Soldier on M*A*S*H, is Punk #1 here (and would play a Burglar on The Brady Brides).  I think this is the first episode that Ruth is absent from.  Again, both Thompson and Van Atta directed, maybe because of the "action sequence"?

Bosom Buddies: Gotta Dance

Bosom Buddies: Gotta Dance
ABC
February 5, 1981
Sitcom
DVD
B-

Bruce Ferber and David Lerner's first of two Buddies stories is about Sonny getting discouraged in the pursuit of her dancing career and planning to move back to Kalamazoo, Michigan.  (In the episode where Kip interviewed her, she first mentioned her hometown.)  Kip comes up with a commercial for libraries where she can sing and dance.  But then the client finds a girl he wants in the ad, and Ruth believes that the client has the last word.  There are some individual good lines, mostly Henry's (e.g. "Francis Ford Kippola" and "F for 'foto' "), but Dixon's weak acting, especially in the more serious moments is a bit of a problem.  The tag, which got chopped off in syndication, is a surprisingly sweet moment where Kip walks in on Lilly dancing by herself and, instead of mocking her, he dances with her.  Note that Isabelle wishes she could find a man like Kip, leading me to think maybe he should've given up on Sonny and gone for Isabelle, who's just as pretty, probably smarter, and definitely a sharper dresser.

Al Eisenmann, who was Jeff Wasserman in the ABC After School Special "Dear Lovey Hart, I Am Desperate," plays Mikey.

Bosom Buddies: Amy's Career

Bosom Buddies: Amy's Career
ABC
January 29, 1981
Sitcom
DVD
B

Jack Carrerow's first of seven  and David Chambers's first of eight Buddies stories is a solid one, although I may be biased since it's one I recorded on audiocassette at the time.  (So I know that Kip singing "sidewalks, busy sidewalks" from "Silver Bells" has been omitted from DVD.)  Amy at 20 feels that her life has no meaning, until she impresses new client Mr. Shaw (played by the always welcome Russell Johnson, who among other things asks, re Kip and Henry, "Are they on drugs?").  Her attempt to use real people from off the street backfires and she again feels depressed.  Then she has to cheer up everyone else when they get depressed trying to cheer her up.  Kip sees through her and we get some insights into their relationship.

It's a bright, funny episode (with one of my favorite ad-libs, referencing Tenspeed and Brown Shoe, the short-lived 1980 Vereen & Goldblum ABC detective series), and, yes, there's some irony to Kip telling Amy that if he was to bet on any of them "making it big," he'd bet on her.  It might be my favorite Lilly episode, from her story about her Uncle Burt being hit by lightning in the zipper to her remark, "You cheer people up better than Mr. Microphone."  Not quite a B+ but closer than we've seen in the series so far.  Oh, and note the Arab without any lines in the boardroom scene, very early-'80s-ish.

Robert Casper, who plays Mr. Cullen, had performed Carol's wedding on The Bob Newhart Show, a much less quirky role.

Bosom Buddies: Revenge

Bosom Buddies: Revenge
ABC
January 22, 1981
Sitcom
DVD
B-

Leonard Ripps wrote this story where the gang gets revenge on Amy's date, Walter Hardy (Philip Charles Mackenzie, who was Roger on Three's Company), after he insults and abandons her for another woman at a costume party.  (Amy was dressed as Bo-Peep.)  I feel like this one takes awhile to get going (Kip's line "Lilly, you dated a comic strip?" is the first that's funny), but the teamwork is good and Scolari does a fine Columbo imitation.

This is the first of two Buddies episodes directed by John Tracy, who would do one for Who's the Boss?

Bosom Buddies: Beauty and the Beasts

Swinging singles

Bosom Buddies: Beauty and the Beasts
ABC
January 15, 1981
Sitcom
DVD
B-

This first of four Buddies stories by Howard Gewirtz and Ian Praiser, who had co-written one for Three's Company, is a bit meta in that Amy tells Henry to try not to force chemistry, while the episode itself feels a bit forced.  The agency hires a gorgeous but untalented actress for the "Mouse Motel" commercial.  Then when Sonny and Isabelle take Buffy and Hildy to a singles bar, Henry gets upset that no men ask them to dance.  I have to say that much as I adore Some Like It Hot, I find the parts that are closest to the movie (like all the residents dropping in B & H's first night in the hotel) to be among the weakest in the series.  When Jerry gets upset about how men treat them (although in Daphne and Josephine's case it's that men are getting fresh), we're not meant to see it as a feminist awakening but just as farce, while here it feels a bit heavy-handed.  I mean, to some extent a lot of this series is about Kip and Henry learning things about themselves and about women by being in drag, but I feel like sometimes it's just too a Very Special Episodic and the right tone hasn't been found, especially this early on.  Well, Ruth's throwaway line about the ERA quickly makes its point, since it's not very feminist of her to hire the actress the "boys" were drooling over.

Anyway, Kip encourages Henry to rethink how he treats Amy, whom he sees as just a friend.  So Henry asks her out (on the phone from the downstairs bar & grill, even though he could wait till they're at work or he's back upstairs), and they have an awkward time.  A spacy woman flirts with Henry, but he'd rather be with Amy, because it feels comfortable, he says.  The thing is, neither of them seem to be having a good time.  I think the script needed a rewrite, although there are individual good moments and scenes, like Kip's "interview" of Sonny, and Ruth showing up at the singles bar in search of a meaningless "gothic" relationship.  Note that Isabelle previously told Kip she'd go out with him (because of his butt), and she in this episode tells Henry she'd go out with him if he were taller.

Judith-Marie Bergan plays Sally of the auras, a very different character from her Marilyn McCallam, and different again from her future Three's Company character, Gail Kenderson.  Robin G. Eisenmann, who plays Miss Graham, was Penny on Mork & Mindy and would soon be Veronica Furley on Three's Company.  And, yes, that's the Will Mackenzie who played Larry Bondurant on The Bob Newhart Show; he would direct seven more Buddies episodes.

Bosom Buddies: Macho Man

Bosom Buddies: Macho Man
ABC
December 18, 1980
Sitcom
DVD
B

Leonard Ripps's first of eight Buddies stories is the first episode where I feel like the cast is coming together as an ensemble.  This is seen a bit in the breakfast scene where Sonny and Isabelle look slightly appalled by Buffy's eating habits, but it's strongest in the interaction in the "urban cowboy" bar, including when they all cry, "Oh no, Shlomo!"  Giving the character a stereotypical Jewish name is a nice unexpected touch, and Amy's line "It looks like Ray Bolger exploded" is one of my favorites from the series.  The plot is that Henry, partially from spending so much time in drag, is starting to feel unmasculine, so he adopts two macho personae, first the gold chains and unbuttoned shirt look, and then "Hank."  After making a fool of himself and hurting Amy's feelings, he realizes that his friends like him as himself.  The anti-machismo message definitely tells us that we are in the very early '80s.  And the subplot about the radioactive cookies is both ridiculous and subversive.

Twyla Littleton, who plays Cheryl, would be Ann on Three's Company.  Oddly enough, both Thompson and Van Atta directed, maybe because of the "action sequence."

Bosom Buddies: My Brother, My Sister, Myself

Bosom Buddies: My Brother, My Sister, Myself
ABC
December 4, 1980
Sitcom
DVD
B-

Chris Thompson wrote this story which introduces Lucille Benson as new hotel manager Lilly Sinclair.  (Benson had played mother-in-law to both Mame and Mr. Roper.)  Unfortunately for the guys, Lilly shows up right after Sonny has walked in on Hildy holding a man in her arms.  (Henry was trying to get Kip out of bed in the morning.)  Hildy's reputation is ruined, including among "men who Simonize."  Henry learns a lesson about gossip and makes amends to a woman he offended.

The layout of the apartment is different than in the pilot, and the men's drag is relatively more believable.  (The latter can at least be explained by them having had more time and practice.)  We also get to see the hallway (with elevator) and the bar downstairs.  But the episode is most significant for the, as the opening credits would later put it, "but they also know us as Kip and Henry, Buffy and Hildy's brothers" aspect being introduced.

I just wish the episode were better.  There are again some sharp lines, as with Amy's reply to "polls don't matter": "That's what Carter thought."  (This is more specific than the "actor president" line on Mork earlier that evening, and it is possible both episodes, or at least this one, were filmed less than a month before they aired.  Or they could've shot Amy's line both ways and edited the right one in before broadcast.)  Buffy's spoonerisms, like "clappy as a ham," are cute.

Unfortunately, there is some subpar acting, for which director Don Van Atta, in his first of five BBuddies gigs, may be to blame.  Dixon is still not great and, like her, Benson seems capable of only doing a couple emotions, not necessarily the right ones at the right moments.  Worst of all though are Samantha Fox, not that Samantha Fox, and Cherie Eichen, as respectively Lee Ann and Amanda.  While it's interesting to hear what may well have been the first Valley Girl on TV (OK, it's New York, but "gag me with a spoon" is very Californian), Eichen doesn't really do much with the character.  And Fox plays her "tramp" character sullenly, not helped by Van Atta's decision to have characters stand up to deliver their lines in that scene.  Everyone else is fine, and I don't want to mark the episode down too much, but overall the episode is a drop in quality from the pilot.  (Still better than what M*A*S*H and Soap were offering up of course.)