Soap: Episode 32

Soap: Episode 32
ABC
November 2, 1978
Dramedy
DVD
B

This episode has two good dramatic scenes and a proto-Golden-Girls scene, but I can't give it a B+ because some of the other scenes are weak.  One of these is another hospital scene, where Chester still has amnesia and the doctor finds it funny.  Also, the Sally being in love/lust with Burt thread doesn't really work, especially knowing her motivation.

One of the dramatic scenes is Elaine explaining to Danny why she's a bitch (not that she puts it that way).  The other is Burt talking about how his father was never a success.  As for the GG-like scene, it's Susan Harris having four female characters sit around the kitchen table, eating junk and talking about sex.  Meanwhile, Jodie meets Carol's father, "Boomer" David (Michael Conrad, who was Mr. Trevesco on The Bob Newhart Show), and tells him "The Princess is pregnant."  Boomer is nice to Jodie's face but tells Carol to never bring "the faggot" home.

The Major, Chuck, and Bob are absent.

Soap: Episode 31

Soap: Episode 31
ABC
October 19, 1978
Dramedy
DVD
B-

This is the last of the episodes co-written by Jordan Crittenden.  Dutch comes back for a very brief reunion with Eunice, confirming Billy's theory that everyone in the family is crazy.  Tim moves in with the Tates.  Chester emerges from his surgery with a memory loss.  Mary's professor, Anatole Martins (Lee Bergere in the first of two Soap appearances), tries to flirt with her.  Dennis is unhappy to hear that Jodie got Carol pregnant and wants to marry her.  And Danny and Elaine hesitantly try being nice to each other.

Soap: Episode 30

Soap: Episode 30
ABC
October 12, 1978
Dramedy
DVD
C+

This is another episode Harris wrote with Crittenden, but I don't know if it's his fault that the current storylines are less appealing to me than the ones from the first season.  My least favorite is the Taming of the Shrew thread with Danny and Elaine.  Meanwhile, Burt's secretary Sally (Caroline McWilliams, who would be a different character on Benson) starts coming on to Burt and Danny.  Jodie proposes to Carol, who's hesitant because she knows that Jodie doesn't want to have sex with her again, although he says he'll try.  (And she makes a Schwarzenegger reference.)  Tim's mother dies.  Eunice confesses her feelings for Dutch to Jessica.  And Dr. Kanter (Ron Rifkin in his first of three Soap appearances) tells Jessica that Chester has a brain lesion that caused him to act violently and he'll need to operated on.

Policeman #2 Jeffrey Kramer had been on M*A*S*H and would be again.  Fred Iwasaki returns as the Japanese Chef and gets a line this time.

The Bob Newhart Show: Mind Your Own Business

The Bob Newhart Show: Mind Your Own Business
CBS
February 2, 1974
Sitcom
DVD
B

This Patchett and Tarses story has the Hartleys employing Jerry's business manager, Jeff Boggs (Ron Rifkin, who was Mel on Gidget).  Another very mid '70s story, with not only references to the economy but also the novelty of an answering machine.  (Which wouldn't be universal even among the middle class for at least another decade.  I grew up without one, although some friends had them.)

Delivery Man Lou Cutell would later play the character based on Mr. Petersen in Mr. Plager's play.

Gidget: Love and the Single Gidget

Gidget: Love and the Single Gidget
ABC
March 3, 1966
Sitcom
DVD
B

With Russ out of town, John and Anne give Gidget permission to go to a surfing tournament (as a viewer not competitor), but they hire college senior Scott to keep an eye on her.  Scott tricks Gidget into thinking he's interested in her romantically, and then she's very upset when she finds out.  Meanwhile, a vain guy named Richie thinks she must be a swinger if she needs a bodyguard, so he takes her parking.  I like how Gidget gets out of the risky situation on her own, even before Scott shows up.  And I like how Larue finds Gidget at the bus stop earlier and talks her out of going home, convincing her to stay despite the "slurky gleek" Scott.

This time Barbara Hershey plays Karen, Pamela McMyler plays Janet, and Tim Rooney plays Ken.  Twenty-six-year-old Ron Rifkin, in his TV debut, does his best to pass as a college student.  The episode is co-written by John McGreevey and Stephen Kandel, the last of four by the latter.