Courtesy Amadeus3000
"It's true."-- Aunt Lolly Stemple, getting to the point about ex-boyfriend Milton Berle.
-- We begin with "Just My Dog," directed by Thomas Schlamme and the first of two in this batch written by Andrew Gordon & Eileen Conn. Paul's newest assignment is a commercial for Yum Yum Gum. Jamie and Murray visit the shoot, the later catching the eye of Paul's clients. With some encouragement, the Buchmans agree to put Murray in the ad. A star is born, sparking jealousy from Lisa, who really could use a job. The likes of Fran, Mr. Wicker, Sylvia and Maggie send their congratulations, with the latter even offering to go on a dog park outing with Murray and Sophie. Murray's other admirers include Bob (Brent Spiner), an agent who handles animal talent.
-- Bob passed on signing Beethoven because prior to the movie, all he could do was hump his leg. Bob's not going to make the same mistake twice, not when All My Children is looking for a dog. It's not like Murray would have to wear any funny hats, unless it was for artistic reasons. Murray is on his way to a future of guesting on The Tonight Show and getting his belly rubbed by Rachel Hunter! As his dog's career is heating up -- Ira only ever sees Murray or Wings on TV -- Paul is feeling jealous. He's not even sure Murray is his dog anymore.
-- I'd love to know what inspired this episode. Did it come up organically ("Hey, we have a talented dog!"), or were TPTB thinking it'd be funny to spoof the fame that Moose was experiencing playing Eddie on Frasier (and Katie the capuchin monkey would later experience playing Marcel on Friends)? Anyway, Murray's newest gigs include a Subaru ad where he "drives" and a Megadeth music video. He's so emotionally gone that stage mother Jamie hires him an assistant, Lisa. The music video requires Murray to be gone for a night, which ends up throwing Paul and Jamie out of whack. On the outs with Lisa (who pulls the "you can't fire me, I quit!" routine), Murray arrives home in time to hear how conflicted his humans are. He purposefully bombs a sitcom audition and attacks Bob for good measure. When the Buchmans can't see, Murray contently wags his tail to show he's home.
-- Carl Reiner won an Emmy for reprising his Dick Van Dyke Show role in "The Alan Brady Show." It's the first script by Kenny Schwartz and the first episode directed by Gordon Hunt, Helen's father. Paul gets Alan for his documentary on this history of TV, but it's quickly apparent that Alan's getting Paul. Brady doesn't like things like Paul sitting in his chair, or being obligated to buy Paul and Jamie dinner. Ultimately, though, Alan grows to like Jamie, even letting her sit in his chair. Alan's still not mad about Paul, particularly since his 90-minute film only includes six minutes of The Alan Brady Show. The project's for HBO, by the way, which just kinda adds to the nonsense of it all. Again, 90 minutes on the history of TV ... and for a network like HBO?
-- Jamie's having trouble communicating with Theresa, leading to a fun scene where she and Lisa keep trying to redirect their mom's attention with conversation topics neither wants to go into. For Jamie, it's the idea of having children or a possible move to Connecticut. For Lisa, it's her job prospects, being single and whether or not she's joined a cult again. Paul tries to find alternative narrators, mostly men who have already died (and Sid knows Tina Louise won't take his call). In the midst of this, Paul makes an unbelievable discovery: Theresa (Hunt) appeared in an Alan Brady Show sketch back in the day. Lisa's thrilled to find out she's a child of show business, which means she and her therapist will have to start all over again. Theresa reveals she had a connection: Alan's former girlfriend, Aunt Lolly!
-- Alan as a boyfriend was like Alan as a comedian, Aunt Lolly dishes. Six minutes of great material and no finish. The two were an item back in the Catskills, with neither mutually exclusive to one another. Paul, like Rob Petrie before him, learns that the trick with Alan is to undercut his ego. During a dinner at the Buchmans, Rob reveals he's not going to retool his movie, Jamie wails "Oh, Paaull!" (which even in 1995, earned new classic status from the likes of TV Guide) and Sid helps the Buchmans pretend that Sid Caesar's agreed to do the narration. Paul wins professionally, but not personally. "Mr. Brady, you're in my chair." "And?"
-- Next up is "Mad Without You," written by Billy Grundfest and directed by Michael Lembeck, who'll handle the rest of this batch. A universal concept -- one half of a longtime couple can't function when the other's gone -- is taken to some funny extremes. Gus Stemple is helpless without Theresa and the Buchmans eventually decide Jamie should stay with her dad for a bit. Paul has the chance to call "the guys" and watch Baywatch. Paul doesn't actually have guys, just Ira, who's already lined up a date with Susannah. After lunch, Paul comes home to find Fran in the shower. Jamie lets Fran use the Buchmans' after she's gone to the gym. That's just one of the countless facts Paul learns over the course of several phone calls to Jamie. Credit where it's due: this wouldn't be very funny with the modern alternative, Paul repeatedly texting Jamie.
-- A while back, we did a Debate Club about character relationships that could have been better explored. "Without" makes a credible argument for a Paul and Lisa storyline. Her visit has been arranged by Jamie. Paul's actually glad to see Lisa, which she doubts. She knows he rolls his eyes at her antics. Lisa then taunts Paul with a story which includes her spending $600 and giving away a pair of her panties for a new pet. Meanwhile, before Jamie left, she and Paul had been talking about getting a new bed. Two impatient guys from the thrift shop show up, and rather than call Jamie again, Paul lets them have the bed. Big mistake: it turns out they were after the Conways' bed.
-- Paul can't let Jamie know what happened. He enlists his friends to right the wrong. It includes harassing the Conways at the opera. "IT WAS THE LITTLE SISTERS OF MERCY, ALRIGHT?! ... *performance stops and Maggie's humiliated* ... Please, do go on." At the thrift store, Paul tries to get back the bed from a nun (Debra Mooney) who's selling it for $400. The Conways regain the upper hand, offering to sell Paul their bed. Back at the thrift store, Paul gets back his and Jamie's bed, as well as a second chance to see Fran naked. Paul, Fran, Ira and Lisa have no clue how to reassemble the bed, which is a problem, since Jamie's home early. Paul stalls her as long as he can, only to find the bedroom's empty (Ira, Fran and Lisa are hiding) and the bed appears to be fixed. As soon as the Buchmans get on, it collapses. Jamie decides Paul was right to think about getting a new bed.
-- "Purseona," written by Gordon & Conn," gets much comedic mileage from sight gags. Luckily, they're good ones. As the episode begins, Fran and Jamie are preparing to meet with a client, Paul is preparing to film a Yukon dogsled race for ESPN (actually ESPN2) and Lisa is preparing for a job interview. Jamie pulled strings to get it, and she embellishes her sister's resume to include the claim that Lisa was J.D. Salinger's personal assistant. "Let 'em try to check it." Lisa, who's got PMS and a stun gun, also has the gloves Paul was going to take to Canada. She'll give them back after the interview. Waiting's only going to be a slight wrinkle in Paul's tight schedule. You can see where this is going, right?
-- Sight Gag No. 1: Lisa returns from her interview with messy hair and stained teeth. She ate the interviewer's Danish. Also, it turns out that she's lost Paul's gloves. By the time Lisa leaves the Buchmans' apartment, she also has Jamie's purse, which contains Paul's passport. The purse also contains everything Lisa needs, like subway fare and gum. Paul and Jamie, who got off at 103rd Street when they should have gotten off at 72nd, end up at Lisa's therapist's. Dr. Wallach (Nancy Lenehan) is with another patient and the session keeps getting interrupted by the Buchmans. For her part, Dr. Wallach strikes a nerve when she declares, "Oh, you must be Jamie." It turns out that Lisa went to Klarik's Department Store to buy replacement gloves. Sight Gag No. 2: While Lisa's got an umbrella, Paul and Jamie are forced to cower and ride out the rain.
-- Once again, we have an episode that'd be harder to pull off in the texting era. And why the hell couldn't Paul just have bought some gloves at the airport? Anyway, he does his paranoid shtick over the idea of going to Canada without a passport. Over at Klarik's, Lisa befriends a clerk (Clea Lewis) and lucks into a new interview. It's only after Lisa discovers an package of pantyhose in the purse that she finally realizes it's not hers. Sight Gag No. 3: Lisa is transformed into a professional-looking woman. She might not have the sales experience, but she's got soft skills, able to win over the dog-owning interviewer with a photo of Murray. Paul and Jamie arrive at Klarik's, don't recognize the cleaned up Lisa from behind, and miss catching up with her.
-- Back at the Buchmans', Fran has given a successful pitch. Sight Gag No. 4: A now disheveled Jamie, complete with one of Lisa's raisins on her tooth, shows up and gives a fast-talking spiel of her own. "(after Jamie's left) I don't know who that was." Finally, at the airport, the bag mix up is resolved. But not before Paul mistakes Lisa's stun gun for an electric shaver. Not the worst episode, but it's dated and also a little too dependent on "Oh, that wacky Lisa!"
-- Last up is "Two Tickets to Paradise," the first episode written by Rick Wiener (Two Guys, a Girl and a Pizza Place, American Dad!, American Housewife). Paul and Jamie take an all-expenses-paid tropical vacation. It was supposed to be Burt and Sylvia's vacation, his surprise to her, but she said that type of trip wasn't for her. (How Sylvia can you get?!) I'm skeptical that Paul and Jamie would actually have to go to the trouble of pretending to be Burt and Sylvia, but the episode depends on their deceiving others, so ... The Hotel St. Nicole offers its guests beautiful ocean views, rooms with neither a TV nor a phone (but a speaker that almost never stops with the annoying island music) and companion couples and activities schedules arranged around their interests*. Why, Paul and Jamie are going to have a week that's been tailor-made for Burt and Sylvia Buchman!
*I could see this also getting on Sylvia's nerves. She may like playing canasta, etc., but I can't imagine she'd willingly go along with being scheduled to do so.
-- Jamie's studying for a French exam, and she tries her skills out with a waiter (Dominic Hoffman). This impresses another guest, Louise (Pamela Dunlap), and Jamie, already tired of being Sylvia, pretends she's Simone. Paul and Simone had the usual boy meets girl story. He was a diplomat attending peace talks and she was selling crepes. Jamie explains to Paul that when she and Lisa were on vacation as girls, they had fun assuming false identities. Paul gets into the spirit, claiming to a lanai neighbor (Gregg Daniel) that he and Jamie are circus people. From there, the lies snowball. Paul invented Cup-a-Soup. Jamie could be a rodeo clown, if not for the sexism. Paul's gone under the sea with Jacques Cousteau. Jamie can dismantle complicated weapons. Paul's been in the Secret Service.
-- The day after, Paul and Jamie are having a hard time keeping their lies straight. Are they an Italian couple? Is Paul a bowling pro and Jamie high up in the military? Social director Trish (Caroline Aaron) also has a problem. Guests are clamoring to have dinner with "the astronaut and his wife," "the cellists" and "the couple who discovered Velcro." Jamie insists she and Paul aren't pulling a con, but then pulls one by claiming "Burt" is actually insane. She hoped the vacation would do him good, but alas ... oh, and can she get some towels? For whatever reason -- she later claims it's because of her responsibility to the other guests -- Trish decides to apparently let everybody know about Paul. He unwittingly doesn't help matters by animatedly swatting at unseen bugs, joking about taking a rented boat all the way to Canada, wielding a table umbrella in an attempt to stop the music in his and Jamie's room and insisting that he needs a knife for his dinner.
-- Jamie comes clean to Paul, who adamantly and publicly protests that he's fine, while she's in the background undermining him. Paul and Jamie end up sticking with the stress-free, old people-friendly activity of making a lanyard. "Tickets" isn't a bad episode, but I'm wondering what would have happened if MAY took more of a Seinfeld direction. I'm imagining a guest or two, like Sam and Fritzi Frank (John C. Moskoff and Annie Korzen), Paul and Jamie's chief companion couple, feeling bold enough to admit they also have had mental health issues. The punchline is that like the other guests were when Paul's sanity was in question, he and Jamie are repulsed.
-- Didja Notice?: I think that's Ramsay as the voice of the flight announcer ("Tickets").
-- Fun With Shilling: Note the modified "Chek" box in "Brady" and the actual Coke can in "Without."
-- The Buchmans Go Broadway: Jamie and Lisa were in their high school production of Pippin ("Dog"). Jamie, Theresa and Aunt Lolly apparently saw Aye to Aye ("Brady"). An ad for Les Miserables logo is at one of the subway stations ("Purseona").
-- Hey, It's the Mid-90s!: The Nov. 25, 1994 issue of Entertainment Weekly ("Sex, Violence and Movie Ratings: Why The System Doesn't Work") is among Paul and Jamie's reading material ("Dog"). When Jamie mentions that he'd be home alone, Paul asks, "What am I, Macaulay Culkin?" ("Without").
-- Continuity Corner: Murray is seven years old and was found by Paul and Ira ("Dog"). It's nice that this bit of backstory was upheld). On the other hand, Paul and Ira apparently lived together after Paul graduated college and before Ira threw him out ("Without"). What this means in regards to the existence of Paul's old bachelor apartment and Selby, I'm not sure.
-- Continuity Corner, The Dick Van Dyke Show: Sid edited The Alan Brady Show for 12 years. Alan references moments like the talking bowling pin and pianist with an itch sketches (which occurred in actual DVD episodes), as well as his singing with Fabian. Later, Paul mentions that Alan was very fond of Patti Page. As "Teri Cooper," Theresa appeared five times. It helped she was pretty and had pep.
-- Before the Credits: "Nope," Paul's beret doesn't look good ("Dog"). Paul thinks Jamie makes declarations of love into a competition ("Brady"). Paul doesn't want to know the truth about whether he's losing his hair ("Purseona"). The Buchmans try to arrange who's going to walk Murray ("Tickets").
-- Under the Credits: Paul also dreams of being rubbed by Rachel Hunter ("Dog"). Paul wants to put his own spin on the ottoman bit, annoying Alan/Carl and Jamie/Helen ("Brady"). While Paul and Jamie are sleeping, their friends escape from their hiding places ("Without"). Jamie and Lisa go over more wonders from the latter's bag ("Purseona"). Paul and Jamie dance to the music, but Trish only sees Paul, reinforcing her belief in his insanity ("Tickets").
-- Ratings Roundup: By this point, Friends has caught on. It was rewarded with the post-Seinfeld timeslot. NBC premiered Hope & Gloria after MAY and for a while, the latter show did better. Elsewhere on Thursdays, ABC ended up replacing Matlock with the short-lived Extreme.
-- Also of note: During this batch, Reiser hosted Saturday Night Live. It's considered one of the worst episodes from the awful 1994-95 season. The lowlights included sportscasters (Reiser and Kevin Nealon) having to pretend they care about women's basketball, Chris Farley and Adam Sandler doing a self-indulgent point/counterpoint sketch as two morons, a bit where Reiser and Chris Elliott played ad execs with a "shocking" toothpaste commercial depicting an interracial kiss between Tim Meadows and Molly Shannon and "Mad About You Aliens," where Paul's married to an alien. Jay Mohr, who played Ira in the MAY parody, also led the infamous "O'Callahan & Son," which he verbatim plagiarized. Anyway, Resier was plugging both MAY and his movie Bye Bye Love. I was going to watch it, but unfortunately, I couldn't find it. Still, I'm proud to announce that soon I will be revisiting Twister.
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