07:00 Perfect Strangers
07:30 My Boys
11:30 In Bed With MeDinner
Perfect Strangers. Season 2, Episode 3. "The Unnatural" Larry is managing the baseball team (and he really wants to win). Balki wants to be on the baseball team (but he's never played before). Larry promises to put him on the team, but changes his mind. What will win out? Friendship or Larry's desire to win at all costs? If you think you can write this one in your head, you are... quite right. It plays out exactly as you would expect, but with good physical comedy and two actors able to talk about "friendship" (at the end) with sincere emotion. A perfect example of why this is a wonderful, feel-good sitcom.
Jennifer and Mary Anne appear in this episode (as part of the team) but neither one has any dialogue! Strange. Production numbers would indicate that this was filmed late in the season, so that might account for it. But, still, I would have preferred that they aired a proper Jennifer/Mary Anne episode after their introduction. (I really love Jennifer and Mary Anne.)
My Boys. Season 2, Episode 7. "Opportunity Knocks" TV's funniest sit-com gets more serious with Andy's marriage now in trouble. Martin Mull steals the episode as a self-obsessed marriage counselor. Meanwhile PJ is trying to decide whether or not to date Bobby's brother. Bobby's marriage is getting closer and closer. He's not actually going to marry her, is he?
In Bed With MeDinner. Season 4, Episode 3. "Jessico the Dancing Outlaw and Johnny Rubbish" I'm not a fan of hyperbole but I have to say, because I honestly believe, that Bob Mills is a comedy genius. When somebody comes along and manages to be funny in a completely new way I fail to think of any other was to describe them. Mills hosted this series for four seasons in the '90s. The format was as follows: Bob used props, stories and video clips to make us laugh. Nothing unusual in any of that, of course, since many shows have been like that. No, Bob's genius lies in the world he creates around this concoction of elements and his ability to deliver non-jokes that fall flat in front of a studio audience in order to set up a (hilarious) gag that won't materialise until much later in the show.
In Bed With MeDinner was a cheap show that aired after midnight and was aimed at the insomniacs in society. Naturally I saw nearly every episode! The format is always the same: Bob returns home (to a studio audience!) and tells some stories about him and his celebrity mates, this often involves props (odd products or books that the research team have procured) and Bob weaves intricate tales about how he came by this stuff ("my mates in Oasis left this here", or "here's a book I wrote"). Sometimes the show is broken up with short segments Bob filmed while out and about. It appears that Bob wandered around with a camera crew and when something odd caught his fancy he improvised and filmed a quick skit, weaving another story (again involving his celebrity mates, or members of his family, or some famous television show that he is working for).
The meat and potatoes of the show, however, are the film clips. Bob spends most of each episode sitting in front of a TV screen, pressing buttons on a VCR and showing us clips from various shows: live shows from the 70s, low-budget documentaries, self-help videos, etc. Bob usually spends ten minutes on each one and - with consummate skill - weaves tales around the clips to incorporate them them into this world of his, where he and his "celebrity mates" are responsible for mostly everything we see. None of what he says is mean-spirited in the slightest, but it must be said that the main appeal of the show is laughing at odd people or badly made TV.
This particular episode is a classic. Bob showcases a very odd (and probably dangerous) dancer and a very bad (and probably in-danger) comedian.
Highlight? In Bed With MeDinner. Genius.
Yet Another TV Review Podcast
Mon, Jul 28, 08 - Perfect Strangers, My Boys, In Bed With MeDinner
