Welcome Back, Kotter: Barbarino's Baby

Paintings in the elevator?  Um, OK.

Welcome Back, Kotter: Barbarino's Baby
ABC
February 3, 1979
Sitcom
DVD
B-

This Morris & Rauseo episode marks the last appearance of Travolta and it's not a bad note to end on.  Vinnie tries to impress Nurse Bonney (Jane Dulo again) but she just keeps giving him mop duty.  Then he, his friends, and Sidney and Myrna Fishbein (Henry Corden, best known as the voice of Fred Flintsone, and Mary Jo Catlett, who keeps popping up more than I expected), a couple who are about to have their eighth child, are trapped in an elevator.  The outcome is somewhat predictable but the energy level is higher than lately and the writing a little sharper, like Epstein's "Otis" joke.  Far from a classic episode, but good for the final season.  And it does have Mr. Woodman disco-dancing as he sings "Macho Man."

M*A*S*H: The Nurses

M*A*S*H: The Nurses
CBS
October 19, 1976
Dramedy
DVD
B

Linda Bloodworth's last M*A*S*H script gets a female director, Joan Darling of "Chuckles Bites the Dust."  And as the title suggests, it's mostly female-focused, with Margaret clashing with her staff, but also showing her human side towards the end.  It is a bit odd to not have Kellye and other more familiar nurses, but the episode still works well.  Note that Hawkeye and BJ scheme to get Frank and Margaret back together to help the nurse who wants to be with her husband, but Frank wants Margaret to "crawl back to him."  Considering she's happily engaged, I can't see that happening.

Patricia Sturges makes her first of two appearances as Nurse Preston, while Carol Locatell does her first of two as Nurse Gaynor, and Linda Kelsey (soon to be on Lou Grant) is Lt. Mickey Baker for the first of two.  Mary Jo Catlett (this time Mary Jo Walsh), George Simmons (role unknown), and Sal Viscuso (PA Announcer) return.

M*A*S*H: The More I See You

M*A*S*H: The More I See You
CBS
February 10, 1976
Dramedy
DVD
B+

This Gelbart & Reynolds story, directed by Reynolds, has Hawkeye reconnecting with a woman from his past, Blythe Danner as Carlye Breslin Walton.  They lived together during his residency and she has since remarried.  He's still carrying a torch for her and she still has feelings for him.  They get involved again, but she realizes this won't work because his first love is medicine.  No one is judgmental here, although BJ makes clear why he personally is faithful to Peg.  Danner's performance is very good and I completely believe that this is the kind of woman he'd fall for, quietly beautiful, with a dry wit to match his own.  There's also a cute subplot about Potter painting portraits of the staff.  Interestingly, Frank and Margaret are both absent this episode.

Mary Jo Catlett, who was Mrs. Englehart on The Bob Newhart Show (and would later be the last maid on Diff'rent Strokes), makes her first of three M*A*S*H appearances, here as Becky.

The Bob Newhart Show: My Business Is Shrinking

The Bob Newhart Show: My Business Is Shrinking
CBS
February 1, 1975
Sitcom
DVD
B

Arnie Kogen and Ray Jessel's second of two BNS stories is funny but with an undercurrent of depression, since Bob's practice is in a temporary lull.  I like that Bob has ups and downs in his profession.  As for the humor, the Howard scene is my favorite, from hammering the tape on a note to getting away with the old "tree surgeon who fell out of a patient" gag.

Phillip R. Allen makes his first of two appearances as Dr. Frank Walburn.  And, yes, that's Mary Jo Catlett as the near-sighted Mrs. Englehart; she's probably best known as Peal on Diff'rent Strokes, but we'll next see her on M*A*S*H.