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: 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 Show Must Go On

Bosom Buddies: The Show Must Go On
ABC
March 26, 1981
Sitcom
DVD
B+

This Gewirtz & Praiser story is another that works on different levels:

• While Kip and Henry's friendship with each other is central to the show, we here see what good friends they are to Isabelle, taking jobs as busboys so she can fulfill her dream of being a singer;
• Hopkins is a wonderful singer, not surprising considering that she was part of Dawn (as in Tony Orlando &), but she's showcased well, and when you see her friends beaming at her, it looks completely genuine;
• Sperber and Dixon offer back-up, as singers and as friends, looking great in their black dresses, and they're funny with their "Is she unconscious?" exchange;
• Also, Dixon has a cool almost Marilyn Monroe moment, when Sonny asks, "How do you like the show so far?" before exiting to check on Isabelle;
• There's a nice little "girl talk" bit where Amy lusts after Henry, and Sonny has drunk enough to lust after Kip;
• We find out that Henry had stage fright in junior high, which not only gives us some more background, but underlines the message of not giving up on your dreams (an important theme throughout the series of course);
• 24-year-old Bob Saget plays Bob the Comic, but it's not like he's just getting up there and doing a stand-up routine (like the comics on Welcome Back, Kotter for instance), he's doing some meta stand-up about stand-up, like when he throws in a reference to Gumby just for generational cred;
• The character is clearly presented as untalented (watch his insecurity about Isabelle, even though she's in another field), and Kip's "Bob the Comic, once again saving his best material just for us" line is brutally funny;
• Ruth shows up with a hunk who's done Moliere;
• The club-owner is a jerk who keeps firing his relatives, but it's played down rather than up, as it would be on Three's Company and other sitcoms of the era;
• The "mumps" sequence, including the Godfather reference and what I think is the first time the guys do their falsetto sing-song "Who is it?", is funny, even if it does beg the question of what excuse Buffy and Hildy made for not attending the second night.

Reb Brown, who had played Elmo Hacker on Three's Company, is Ruth's beefcake boyfriend Roger.  Lilly is absent, although she knows Isabelle much better than Ruth does.

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: 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: How Great Thou Art

The debut of the "our friend Amy" portion of the credits.

Bosom Buddies: How Great Thou Art
ABC
February 19, 1981
Sitcom
DVD
B

This Ferber & Lerner story is another that verges on but doesn't quite make it to B+.  (I'll discuss this more when I either award a B+ or at the end of the season, whichever comes first.)  It's got an interesting premise and it's often funny and quotable.  It also has Isabelle starting to dress with more unique style, and of course the addition of the iconic "When we first moved to New York..." opening narration.

It's Kip's birthday, we don't know which one, and we don't know what month it is, although Yankee Bucky Dent is a playing a game in Oakland.  Henry's gift is that he's taken Kip's paintings (apparently unobserved by Kip) to a gallery and they'll be part of a showing with the works of two other artists.  Kip feels unprepared for the public exposure and criticism.  This is definitely an episode about the guys' friendship, where we can see that maybe Kip is being oversensitive (a trait shown in other episodes), but Henry may've been wrong to do this, especially without asking.  There's also some gentle ribbing of the art world, from the "flag of Japan" painting that wows the critics to the performance artist* who's going to hang in a Jersey suburb for three years.  (In a line that I believe got lost in syndication, Isabelle remarks on the historical irony that she could "buy" a white man for $1000.)  Note that Kip has an Aunt Sara (Sarah?).

Alan Haufrect, who'd played a nameless Felon on The Bob Newhart Show, is Mr. Miller here.  Sally Kemp, who plays Mrs. Landis, would be Joanna Latham on Three's Company that fall, while Henry Sutton, who's Mr. Graves here, would be the Minister at Janet Wood's wedding.  Ruth is absent again, as is Lilly, but then the latter more often is.


*As far as I know, Jeff Doucette isn't in any other of my TV shows, but he did play a very queeny Jack to a horny Jill in the 1978 soft-core porn movie Fairy Tales.

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: 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.

The Bob Newhart Show: The Mentor

The Bob Newhart Show: The Mentor
CBS
March 5, 1977
Sitcom
DVD
C+

It's hard to care about Larry or his travel agency, but I do like the set decorations during Emily's promotions for the business.

The Bob Newhart Show: Taxation Without Celebration

The Bob Newhart Show: Taxation Without Celebration
CBS
February 19, 1977
Sitcom
DVD
C+

While this Sy Rosen story has its moments, including the running joke about Bob loving salami, I kept being taken out of it by wondering, "Why doesn't Bob file for an extension?  Shouldn't he be more impressed that Emily is willing to fly to San Francisco?  How did a letter get from SF to Chicago that quickly, especially when postmarked at midnight?  Why didn't their anniversary being on April 15th ever come up before?" and other questions.  Bonerz directed.

The Bob Newhart Show: Love Is the Blindest

The Bob Newhart Show: Love Is the Blindest
CBS
January 8, 1977
Sitcom
DVD
B

Gary David Goldberg's second BNS story is funny, sometimes very funny-- Howard's "What do you know about international law?" was my favorite line-- although Mr. Carlin's girlfriend being OK with him repeatedly lying to her feels odd.  I like how the motif of Emily's matchmaking continues.  Note the Captain and Tennille reference.  Will Mackenzie doesn't appear in this episode but he directed and, like Bonerz, would become quite successful at it.

This is the 200th TV program I've given a B to.

The Bob Newhart Show: Making Up Is the Thing to Do

The Bob Newhart Show: Making Up Is the Thing to Do
CBS
December 25, 1976
Sitcom
DVD
B-

In this story by the Farrs, Bob's parents (Barnard Hughes and Martha Scott), who split up around Thanksgiving, reconcile on Christmas Day.  As mentioned on the previous episode, they've been married 47 years.  And we find out that Bob was almost named Herb, not for his father but for President Hoover.  The episode references Farrah and has quite a bit about CB radios.  It's the only one directed by Harvey Medlinsky, who'd go to Mork & Mindy.  It's also the 600th sitcom episode I've reviewed.

The Bob Newhart Show: Caged Fury

The Bob Newhart Show: Caged Fury
CBS
October 2, 1976
Sitcom
DVD
B

The Farrs wrote this episode set on the Fourth of July, in that year of the Bicentennial, when it was perfectly plausible that four people could show up dressed as Uncle Sam.  Bob and Emily are trapped in their storage locker and move from bickering to (offscreen) lovemaking.  When I was a kid, the funniest moment for me was Howard, in his costume, being ticked off at them for apparently ditching his party.  But the biggest laugh this time was Bob's punchline about dying from exposure, including Newhart's obvious enjoyment of it. Also, him claiming he'd never remarry looks different, considering his "Vermont dream."

The Bob Newhart Show: Guaranteed Not to Shrink

The Bob Newhart Show: Guaranteed Not to Shrink
CBS
February 7, 1976
Sitcom
DVD
B-

The best thing about this Sy Rosen script is the series of jokes about Bob's ex-girlfriend who "became a school."  This is the 300th CBS program I've reviewed, and with BNS and M*A*S*H both continuing, there will obviously be more.  (Yes, NBC is really trailing.)

The Bob Newhart Show: Carol at 6:01

Will Mackenzie much later.

The Bob Newhart Show: Carol at 6:01
CBS
January 10, 1976
Sitcom
DVD
B-

Continuing the week's theme, in this Gordon & Lynne Farr story Carol tries to get some time away from her doting new husband, but he misses her and briefly gets jealous, and, yes, he plays poker with the guys.  We find out that Larry is 35.  Bonerz directed.

The Bob Newhart Show: Carol's Wedding

The Bob Newhart Show: Carol's Wedding
CBS
October 18, 1975
Sitcom
DVD
B-

Emily fixes up Carol again, this time with Larry Bondurant, brother of Emily's friend Judy (whom we don't see but learn details about).  Carol becomes immediately engaged and, as the title suggests, gets married by the end of the episode.  I agree with Bob that this is too rushed, especially since we don't even see the guy till the last few minutes.  No offense to Will Mackenzie (who did a guest shot on That Girl), but after the big build-up, including that Emily thought from his phone voice that he was gorgeous, it's a bit of a disappointment when he finally shows up.  There might've been ways for Gordon & Lynne Farr to do this, even as a whirlwind romance, but it doesn't quite work here.  The episode still has its moments, such as Bob's desk difficulties, and I like that Howard cries at the wedding.  Note that Carol has been engaged twice before, so presumably to someone other than "the guy with the feet."

Ric Mancini makes his first of three BNS appearances, this time as one of the Moving Men.  Robert Casper, who plays Judge Tanner, would have a quirkier role on Bosom Buddies.  Pat Cranshaw, who's the Old Gentleman, would later play a Bum on this show.  He was only 55 at the time of this episode but looked older and showed up in a lot of things, including the movies Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band and The Hudsucker Proxy, as well as six cameos on Mork & Mindy.  Michael Zinberg would go on to direct fourteen more BNS episodes.

That Girl: At the Drop of a Budget

That Girl: At the Drop of a Budget
ABC
October 16, 1969
Sitcom
DVD
C+

Sigh.  At least when Ann would have Lucy-esque adventures in the first season or two, like her toe in the bowling ball, it was done with some degree of plausibility and humor.  But this time Ann is hypnotized by a dentist, played by Monty Hall, and she becomes a shopaholic.  Dig the cheesy "Donald piecing things together" montage to see how unrealistic this has all gotten.  Not sharkbait, but not exactly classic TV either.  Still, the episode is notable for a couple guest stars who went on to become minor characters on other shows:  Gino Conforti, better known as Felipe on Three's Company, makes his first appearance as Nino, while Will Mackenzie, who plays the Fiance on the soap opera, would later marry Carol on The Bob Newhart Show.

Ticket Seller Mari Oliver was Girl #1 on the "chicken" episode. TG producer Sam Denoff appears as Dudley Moss.   This is Ed Scharlach's penultimate TG script, while it's Warren Murray's first of three.