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.)