Wait Till Your Father Gets Home: The Neighbors

Wait Till Your Father Gets Home: The Neighbors
Syndicated
February 20, 1973
Cartoon, Sitcom
DVD
C+

The only first season episode written by co-creators R.S. Allen and Harvey Bullock, this has the feel of a back-door pilot, since it's mostly focused on the title characters, with just brief appearances by the Boyles.  I guess they wanted to do "young marrieds" stories for a change, and it wouldn't have worked to marry off Chet.  Since this is Hanna-Barbera, there's an evil snickering dog, and since it's '73, the wife's mother is modeled on Maude Findlay.

The first season of WTYFGH averages a B-, but it's fair to say that my enjoyment wore off as the show went on.  Unlike All in the Family, which could be watched and identified with in different ways, this show is so Harry-focused, with him often the only rational and honorable person around, it blunts the quality of the show.  This disservice is seen particularly with the character of Irma, who becomes shallower and more irritating as the season "progresses."  From what I recall, the second season had more guest celebrities, but since it is not at this time available on DVD, I don't remember much about it.

Wait Till Your Father Gets Home: Papa in New York

Wait Till Your Father Gets Home: Papa in New York
Syndicated
February 13, 1973
Cartoon, Sitcom
DVD
C

This Elinson-Paul episode is definitely one of the weakest in the series.  It has moments when it feels like there might be some sort of pay-off, like when the desk clerk thinks Harry and Ralph are a honeymooning couple, but both Ralph and Irma are too annoying.  And then we never get to actually see any New York scenery.

Wait Till Your Father Gets Home: Accidents Will Happen

Wait Till Your Father Gets Home: Accidents Will Happen
Syndicated
February 6, 1973
Cartoon, Sitcom
DVD
C+

Harry, while wearing slacks that Ralph thinks make him look like he should belong to the Gay Liberation Movement, slips on butter in a hotel dining room, in front of 100 ambulance-chasing lawyers.  I'm getting annoyed with the premise that Harry is the only honest person in town.  The "angel Harry" and "devil Harry" are a cute, if not particularly original device, and the Bonnie & Clyde nightmare is OK if not inspired.  Note that 7-year-old Jamie, who used to be 8, needs braces, which sounds really premature, especially considering the Tooth Fairy visited him not long ago.

Wait Till Your Father Gets Home: Music Tycoon

1973 in Hanna-Barbera-land

Wait Till Your Father Gets Home: Music Tycoon
Syndicated
January 30, 1973
Cartoon, Sitcom
DVD
B-

This Elinson-Paul story feels even more dated than "The Commune," since there were definitely still communes in the early '70s but the view of music presented here was dated even at the time of, say, Hello Down There (1969).  Ralph assumes that all rock is protest, but the hit song "Wham, Bam, I'm in Love with Sam" doesn't seem to even have any lyrics.  I do like the visuals that indicate that the music is loud, since it's not actually any louder than the rest of the episode, and it has a bouncy but mellow sound that's not the slightest bit acid or heavy metal or anything else that might be considered abrasive.  Note, I could've sworn Chet had actually graduated but here he's referred to as a college drop-out.  This is, by the way the 400th sitcom I've reviewed.

Wait Till Your Father Gets Home: The Commune

Wait Till Your Father Gets Home: The Commune
Syndicated
January 23, 1973
Cartoon, Sitcom
DVD
B-

In this Elinson-Paul story, Alice goes to live in the title location.  Ralph assumes that it's a nudist camp as well as a Commie stronghold, so he infiltrates the place naked.  (We very briefly see his naked bottom.)  We also learn that he has a son in military school.  (We never see or hear his family, although he is married.)

Wait Till Your Father Gets Home: Sweet Sixteen

Wait Till Your Father Gets Home: Sweet Sixteen
Syndicated
January 16, 1973
Cartoon, Sitcom
DVD
B

This starts out with cliches about teenage drivers, especially girl drivers, as Alice is turning sixteen.  (Which messes with the continuity of most of the season, but oh well.)  Then Irma wants to throw a big party for Alice and she hires her friend's caterer, who's voiced by an uncredited but unmistakable Paul Lynde.  And he wants a Roman theme, which makes Ralph assume an orgy, which turns Whitaker on.  There's a sweet scene where Alice says she doesn't want her father to get into debt for her party; she knows he loves her, and she loves him.  Again, not a particularly topical episode, unless you count Ralph thinking that caviar is really made from human cells!

Fred S. Fox and Seaman Jacobs would go on to write for Hong Kong Phooey.  

Wait Till Your Father Gets Home: The Swimming Pool

Wait Till Your Father Gets Home: The Swimming Pool
Syndicated
January 9, 1973
Cartoon, Sitcom
DVD
B

Charles Anthony and Mark Scott's third of six WTYF stories isn't particularly topical, unless you count Ralph blaming the heat wave on the Russians' use of satellites to make America helpless, but it is one of the better episodes.  I like the visuals, from the heavy use of a rosy red to indicate heat to the way Ralph and Harry negotiate the shared territory of their pool.  The ending, with the neighbor couple who bought the pool sharing the plastic pool that Harry and Irma have settled for, is a nice touch.  And the line "Sara's a great freedom fighter but she's oversexed" sums up Whitaker pretty well.

Wait Till Your Father Gets Home: Papa the Patient

Wait Till Your Father Gets Home: Papa the Patient
Syndicated
January 2, 1973
Cartoon, Sitcom
DVD
C+

As you might guess from the title of this Elinson-Paul story, Harry is hospitalized.  Hal Frederick, who was Lee Basumba in Gidget Grows Up, did a character voice here and on "Help Wanted," so I will give them credit for sometimes hiring blacks to voice blacks.  Oddly enough, director Alan Rafkin does a voice on this episode.

Wait Till Your Father Gets Home: Mama's Identity

Wait Till Your Father Gets Home: Mama's Identity
Syndicated
December 26, 1972
Cartoon, Sitcom
DVD
C+

As with the episode where Irma might've been pregnant, most of the focus is on Harry's reaction to what should be Irma's story.  Some time between that episode and this one, the Boyles have gone from two beds to one, although she's too tired from her job for them to fool around.  I didn't really expect an intelligent examination of women's lib (after all, All in the Family couldn't really manage it at this point either), but the episode, another from Elinson and Paul, would be stronger if more arguments were made on both sides.  Oh, and of course there's Ralph's theory that women's lib is a Commie plot to switch the sexes.  As with Mrs. Roper later in the decade, the young people pressure the happy housewife into getting a job, although arguably Irma actually does seem to want a job at first, unlike Mrs. R.

Wait Till Your Father Gets Home: The Prowler

Wait Till Your Father Gets Home: The Prowler
Syndicated
December 19, 1972
Cartoon, Sitcom
DVD
B

This Elinson-Paul episode is the best in awhile, although I'm not sure where it fits into the chronology, since it has new-Chet but it also has the laugh track which had disappeared for the last few episodes.  In any case, perhaps because this is a cartoon rather than live action, Harry lives a nightmare when Ralph and his vigilante group start patrolling to capture the title character and decide that Harry is guilty.  Harry has an actual nightmare, where he's on Death Row.  Throughout the season, it's been made abundantly clear that this show is set in Southern California (based on geographical and cultural references), so that when there's a line about the Governor not having a chance to pardon Harry because he's too busy on the set of Death Valley Days, we don't have to have that further explained.  (And, yes, it's an anachronism, but then on one episode Ralph's friend was watching Gilligan's Island and Mr. Ed in prime time.  So maybe this isn't set quite in our world.)

Wait Till Your Father Gets Home: The New House

Wait Till Your Father Gets Home: The New House
Syndicated
December 12, 1972
Cartoon, Sitcom
DVD
B-

This episode by Jack Elinson and Norman Paul is similar to "The New Car," with Harry and his family deciding it's best to keep what they have, but I think it's a better episode because more satirical.  Also, the kids are more in character here, partly because old-Chet's voice is on this one.  (I know they didn't air in the order they were made.)

Hazel Shermet joins the voice cast, I think as the real estate agent this time.

Wait Till Your Father Gets Home: The New Car

Wait Till Your Father Gets Home: The New Car
Syndicated
December 5, 1972
Cartoon, Sitcom
DVD
C+

This episode gets marked down for Harry's sexist fantasy about trading in wives like cars (Alice has to explain to him that people are not the same as possessions), for Chet and Alice's uncharacteristic attitudes about "what will the neighbors think," and for the replacement of David Hayward as Chet by (I believe) Lennie Weinrib.  Hayward's Chet had sensitivity and intelligence that the new Chet lacks, making him just another goofy, lazy son character.  I do like the Cal Worthington parody (meriting the disclaimer at the beginning of the episode that no character should be mistaken for real life), and how Harry gets his revenge on live TV.

Hal Smith and Pat Harrington, Jr. both provide voices.

Wait Till Your Father Gets Home: Expectant Papa

Wait Till Your Father Gets Home: Expectant Papa
Syndicated
November 28, 1972
Cartoon, Sitcom
DVD
B-

This is the only WTYF episode written by William Raynor and Myles Wilder and it has a plot very different than what they could've gotten away with on The Brady Bunch.  When Irma is possibly pregnant, the only one happy about it is Harry.  My main issue with the episode is that too much of it is focused on Harry.  I understand that he's the series protagonist, but shouldn't Irma's feelings, at roughly 40, be given more significance than they are?  The title reflects this unbalanced emphasis, as does Harry's insistence that he be the one to tell the kids, "We're pregnant."

Twelve-year-old Willie Aames takes over as the voice of Jamie, although I couldn't really tell a difference.

Wait Till Your Father Gets Home: Duty Calls

Wait Till Your Father Gets Home: Duty Calls
Syndicated
November 21, 1972
Cartoon, Sitcom
DVD
B

This first of three WTYF scripts by Charles Isaacs manages to include the draft, psychiatry, and the Tooth Fairy.  Obviously, the first two of these are not typical topics for a cartoon.  I also like the flashback to 1950, when Chet is born.  Note that Harry is not as enthusiastic about Chet working at Harry's business as he was before.

Daws Butler and Lennie Weinrib again do voices.

Wait Till Your Father Gets Home: The Mouse

Julius

Wait Till Your Father Gets Home: The Mouse
Syndicated
November 14, 1972
Cartoon, Sitcom
DVD
C+

This relatively apolitical episode (not counting Ralph's suspicions that Commies run pet shops and kidnap kids like Jamie) is pretty forgettable.  It does, however, have Harry telling Irma how much he resents her threatening the kids with "Wait till your father gets home!"  And Julius the dog seems to be getting more to do as the series goes on.  John Stephenson again supplies a voice.

Wait Till Your Father Gets Home: Chet's Fiancee

Wait Till Your Father Gets Home: Chet's Fiancee
Syndicated
November 7, 1972
Cartoon, Sitcom
DVD
C+

The title is a misnomer, since Chet and his girlfriend plan to live together.  This would be a better episode if the young couple were given some valid arguments against marriage (and there were and are many), rather than a simple "We don't believe in it."  Sgt. Whitaker's character is continuing to morph into the "horny old lady" type, this time disguising herself as the bride when Ralph tries to marry off Chet against his will.

Lennie Weinrib again does voice-acting on the show.

Wait Till Your Father Gets Home: Chet's Job

Sgt. Whitaker plans to crash the love-in.

Wait Till Your Father Gets Home: Chet's Job
Syndicated
October 31, 1972
Cartoon, Sitcom
DVD
B-

This first of two WTYF stories by Terry Ryan has Harry start charging 22-year-old college graduate Chet for room and board, so, yes, Chet gets a job.  It looks like it's in a head shop but presumably isn't.  Chet invents a lightbulb-shaped candle, which is understandably popular.  (Google it.)  Then Chet sells the concept and retires for the moment.  Notice that despite the sort of realism of the show, the animals that Irma imagines menacing Chet include a talking lion, a very Hanna-Barbera touch.

Lennie Weinrib again is a voice actor.

Wait Till Your Father Gets Home: The Victim

With friends like these....

Wait Till Your Father Gets Home: The Victim
Syndicated
October 24, 1972
Cartoon, Sitcom
DVD
B-

Charles Anthony and Mark Scott's second WTYF script is mostly significant for Ralph getting the most memorable lines, including I believe the first time Jack Burns does his "Huh, yeah, huh, yeah" routine on the show.  (It goes back to his comedy routines with Avery Schreiber I believe.)  Whether Ralph accompanies Harry to the police station to "finger a colored guy," even though Harry has described the mugger as having sandy hair, or he gives Harry tough law & order advice in church, in between belting out the chorus of a hymn about peace, he's a real scene-stealer here.  Even Alice calling her father a fascist can't compete.  Note that Harry is 47, which is consistent with him being 15 in 1940.  However, as Vernon Dursley could tell them, there's no post on Sunday.

John Stephenson and Lennie Weinrib both return to do voices, while Frank Maxwell makes his first of two cameos.

Wait Till Your Father Gets Home: Love Story

Alice tries to talk Harry into a more modern wardrobe.

Wait Till Your Father Gets Home: Love Story
Syndicated
October 17, 1972
Cartoon, Sitcom
DVD
B-

In this story by Jack Elinson and Norman Paul, Alice falls for another Norman (voiced by Marvin Kaplan), a young man who begs for a living.  He proposes to 16-year-old Alice, so Harry puts his foot down.  The twist is that Norman is actually from a wealthy family and is a smart investor, so Alice is turned off.

Wait Till Your Father Gets Home: Help Wanted

Wait Till Your Father Gets Home: Help Wanted
Syndicated
October 10, 1972
Cartoon, Sitcom
DVD
C+

This script by Jack Elinson and Norman Paul is as confused as Harry over what the right thing to do is after he nudges his elderly (and near-sighted) Jewish delivery-truck-driver into retirement.  His family wants him to hire another minority, except that Irma changes her mind and wants him to hire her lazy thief of a brother, Paul.  Ralph of course wants him to hire a WASP.  And representatives of various groups, including a very stereotypical gay man, want Harry to pick one of them.  He ends up seeking the government's help and, after being fingerprinted and interrogated (he admits to dating 15-year-old girls in 1940, when he was 15), he gets the advice of a super-computer (one that of course fills an entire wall) that he should hire fractions of people to have accurate representation.  In the end, he re-hires Abe Finkel.  It seems like they could've come up with a better ending than that.

Hal Frederick does a voice on the show for the first of two times.  Krofft regular Lennie Weinrib joins the voice cast on this episode, and would eventually take over as Chet.  Allan Melvin does a few of the voices.  And, yes, that's Isabel Sanford (AKA Louise Jefferson) as Harry's secretary Betsy.