JOANIE LOVES CHACHI: "Best Foot Forward"

 

The title refers to Joanie getting her foot stuck in a seat at a movie theater showing a racy French art movie.  C+ again.

Notes:
  • Ellen Travolta's sister (and John's) Ann plays the Cashier.
  • Martin Ferrero, who plays Mr. Bresner, would be Omar twice on HD.
  • Joan Brooker and Nancy Eddo would go on to co-write for Charles in Charge among other shows.
  • And this episode is Henry Winkler's first directorial credit.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Introduction

Image
It's 8 p.m. Pacific Standard Time on Tuesday, September 20, 1977.  I'm a motherless, nine-year-old only child who has finished her fourth-grade homework in time for prime time.  I don't have a channel-changer and I've got a cat or two on my lap.  I'm settled in for an hour and a half of ABC sitcoms, which will last, with some detours (and the death of one cat) for the next six seasons. This is the first night of what will become a wildly popular lineup, but no one knows that yet.  In an hour, I will watch Jack (played by the very talented and boyishly handsome John Ritter) look for a job, as a nude male model and/or an encyclopedia salesman, on the breakout hit of the previous Spring, Three's Company, now in its first full season.  It is the second episode of the year, the eighth overall, and continues the playful naughtiness it has already become notorious for, here with Janet pretending to be a horny housewife until Jack tickles her.  I will have a crush ...
Read more

"Poobah Doo Dah"

Image
Even if you haven't seen this episode before, you've seen it before.  You know, the one where someone promises a celebrity for some charity benefit and they may or may not show up.  HD had already done it at least once before, with "The Magic Show."  So a C. Notes: Frankie Avalon was then 41, playing his 21-year-old self as Al's fifth cousin.  He sounds as much like he's lip-syncing as Fonzie does, due to the echo chamber. As nice as it is that Lynda Goodfriend gets to dance again, why is she doing a Jazzercise routine to the Twist?  For that matter, why do J&C and their ever-morphing band audition with a Twist song but he, Potsie, Roger, and Al form a barbershop quartet? Is it stranger that Jenny auditions with a striptease number or that the stripper song is on the Arnold's jukebox? There is one half-funny joke here, about Lincoln and the theater, which you will make before you hear it. David Ketchum returns as Lodge member Donald Hedges.
Read more

"Allison"

Image
Another of those episodes where Fonzie falls for a girl and I can't see what's so special about her (like the one with the dancer).  This one is deaf but they "communicate" and she's supposed to be jaw-dropping gorgeous, while I thought she was plain, especially with the unflattering (even for early '60s or early '80s) hair style.  And Richie's overprotectiveness feels out of nowhere.  So a C. Notes: I don't know what was up with Milwaukee Power & Electricity that season.  Just a couple weeks earlier, Laverne and Shirley had to go down there to complain about their  power being cut off.  (One of the less memorable episodes of their Season Five.)  In both cases, the computer is to blame.  Maybe ABC just wanted to get their money's worth out of that set. Not only roommate Potsie but Chachi borrows Ralph's shirts and underwear without asking. Richard Masur, who plays Doug (the guy that Allison is two-timing with), was probably then best kn...
Read more