Square Pegs: Muffy's Bat Mitzvah

Square Pegs: Muffy's Bat Mitzvah
CBS
November 29, 1982
Sitcom
DVD
B

This is arguably the best known episode of the series, with Devo appearing as themselves to perform at the event of the title.  (And, yes, Muffy is 14 but she explains why this gathering is being held a year late.)  It could've gone in the direction of the Who's the Boss? episode that promises but fails to deliver Wilson Phillips, but Devo does show up in the end and gives us "That's Good."  (There don't seem to be any music rights issues on this episode, but music is more central to the plot.)  Along the way, Muffy doesn't invite, invites, and tries to un-invite Patty, Lauren, Marshall, and Johnny, with them all trying to manipulate her.  Johnny's "new" band is called Open 48 Hours (twice as good as the previous band).  Marshall refers to Lauren and Patty as their "chicks" and "foxes," while Johnny calls them their "old ladies."  Note that Marshall is also Jewish.

William Bogert, who had a couple roles on M*A*S*H, plays Muffy's dad, while the actress playing her grandmother, Dena Dietrich, is probably best known for her appearances as Mother Nature in Chiffon margarine commercials, but did show up as a Science teacher on Welcome Back, Kotter.  (And although I don't have Muffy's mom in any of my other shows, Marj Dusay is recognizable as Blair's mother on Facts of Life.)  Maggie Munro, who plays a Jewish Girl here, would be an unspecified Student later, uncredited both times.  John Densmore returns as himself (the Doors drummer who's happy to play in Johnny's band).  Richard Blade makes his first of two appearances as himself, and would have a similar role in Parker's 1985 movie Girls Just Want to Have Fun.  

This is the only Pegs story written by Beatts's Saturday Night Live colleague Rosie Shuster, and so the jokes about SNL and NBC have an extra bite.