Post-50th Anniversary Viewing
All in the Family
"Black Is the Color of My True Love's Wig"
Originally aired November 24, 1973
Wiki said:
Gloria buys a black wig to change her look, but she becomes upset when Mike becomes more attracted to her with the wig on.
It's Saturday and Archie's in Manhattan for a veterans' convention. Gloria takes up the mantle by pretending to complain about the subway while she comes home, but she's actually in a good mood after having bought something on sale, and runs upstairs with it. Frank drops in to invite Edith to join him and Irene at a Swedish movie, while playfully flirting with her. Mike takes an interest in bringing Gloria, who subsequently comes downstairs sporting a black bob, which she bought for the convenience of not having to wash her hair as much.
Edith: The nice thing about washin' a wig is that when you sit under the dryer, you don't have to be there!
Gloria's initially pleased at how much Mike digs it, and suddenly he doesn't want to go to the movie anymore, making a story that
Citizen Kane is going to be on--a ruse that both Gloria and Edith see through. When they're alone, Mike insists that Gloria not take off the wig, and she teases him by pretending to actually be interested in watching the movie, but eventually they head upstairs. Mike's waiting pensively in his bathrobe as Gloria gets ready for bed, and is dismayed when she returns with the wig off, insisting that she put it back on. By that point, she sees what's up and accuses Mike of having found a way of effectively cheating on her that doesn't involve another woman.
Gloria: Michael, it's not me, it's this pile of hair from Kressler's that's gettin' to ya, I just happen to be standing underneath it!
Mike: You're the sick one, you're jealous of your own wig!
Mike briefly makes a good point that the wig is no different from the array of cosmetics that Gloria typically employs to make herself more attractive, but his inability to relent regarding the wig results in him going down to sleep on the couch. Once she's alone, Gloria goes into one of her signature cries.
The next morning, Mike's gone out and Edith tries to get Gloria to talk to her about what happened.
Gloria: I put on the wig, and somethin' came over him. He became sensuous and demanding and passionate--It was terrible!
Edith doesn't understand Gloria's issue. Then Archie comes home, sporting his veteran's cap and singing, and describes how one of the other guys was pulling pranks on women.
Archie: You come back after a hard day's fightin', you need a few laughs to break up the monogamy. That's what these conventions do, they break up monogamy.
Gloria uses her father as a stand-in for Mike, berating him for the sort of misconduct that she assumes Archie and his pals were engaged in at the convention, then runs upstairs.
Archie (to Edith): It's that time o' the month again, huh?
When Edith drops the bomb that Mike walked out, Archie asks Edith to tell him the story short and sweet and without any "detours".
Edith: Mike fell in love with a wig.
At first Archie doesn't understand the problem, either; but when Edith very reluctantly conveys how Mike wanted her to wear it while...you know...his attitude changes. When Mike comes home, he tries to defend his little girl from this "weird wolf". After initially asking everyone what he did wrong, Mike argues to Gloria that it was no different than when he liked her in a dress that she bought--he wasn't attracted to the dress, or other women trying it on, he was attracted to her in the dress. Having successfully gotten through to her, she encourages him to come upstairs and "take a nap" with her...to Archie's disapproval, though Edith likens the situation to how he's always worn the same after shave since one night years back when it had an effect on her.
Edith: There's somethin' about my Aqua Velva man.
(The AI tells me that they weren't a sponsor, but I had to wonder.)
In the coda, Edith is greeted by an uproarious studio audience when she comes downstairs wearing the wig, but Archie doesn't even look up from his paper.
M*A*S*H
"Carry On, Hawkeye"
Originally aired November 24, 1973
1974 Emmy award for Best Directing in Comedy (Jackie Cooper)
Wiki said:
Hawkeye and Margaret are the only ones able to work during a flu epidemic.
The episode opens with most personnel masked, and Trapper laid up in a hospital bed being tended to by Hawkeye, who meets a new nurse who catches his interest, Lt. Sheila Anderson (Lynnette Mettey). Hawkeye is notably not masked, with the straw people scolding him for his assumption of immunity; but Henry collapses, and is soon followed by Frank while he's operating. Hawkeye sends Houlihan to finish up the patient Frank was working on, and enlists Mulcahy to assist him. Assuming that he's in de facto command, Hawkeye tries to call HQ for help.
Hawkeye: It's hard to believe I'm sitting in Henry Blake's chair. This is the chair from which a thousand indecisions have been launched.
Margaret drops by the Swamp for Frank's Bible and, after an obligatory come-on attempt by Hawkeye, asserts that she's in administrative command as she outranks him.
Houlihan: You've emasculated me for the last time! I'm in charge now!
She nevertheless lets Hawkeye take charge in the OR, where Mulcahy is now embedded as a fill-in nurse and she's still pinch-hitting as a pseudo-doctor while Radar, also still unaffected, takes to the phone trying to find another surgeon.
Hawkeye: We've been offered a veterinarian and a gynecologist....That'll be very helpful if we get a horse who's going through menopause.
With everyone out of their comfort zones, things get pretty chaotic in the OR.
At the major's order, she and Hawkeye inject each other with an experimental flu serum, with Hawkeye insisting that she give him his shot in the rear. Henry returns to his office paranoid that they're conspiring to take command from him, but in a good bit of physical comedy, slides out his chair as he passes out. In the ward, Trapper is also trying to get back on duty, but can't stand up. Margaret tries to share with Frank how she plans to take opportunity of her temporary position to change things, but in his delirium he not only calls her by his wife's name, but by that of a secretary back home whom he also had an affair with. In the colonel's office, Hawkeye reveals to Margaret that he's now experiencing symptoms, and she shows genuine concern.
Hawkeye: You know all those rotten things I've said to you, and all those nasty little tricks I've played on you?
Margaret: Yes?
Hawkeye: I'd like to get well and do them all over again.
Hawkeye impresses Houlihan by remaining on duty despite his condition. In a moment of need, Hawkeye has Radar scrub up and assist Houlihan. The episode sort of anti-climaxes with everyone in the OR mustering on overlaid by PA announcements of world events (including a mention of that French conflict in Vietnam).
In the coda, Hawkeye's laid up as Blake, Burns, and Trapper are back on their feet. Henry presents Hawkeye with a toilet paper roll signed by everyone in the camp, and Radar, acting as Hawkeye's nurse, orders everyone out.
In my personal head canon Chuck Cunningham from 'Happy Days' and 'Stretch' Cunningham from 'All in the Family' are the same person separated by twenty years; Chuck moving from Milwaukee to New York after graduating college and befriending Archie Bunker, who nicknames him 'Stretch'.
That's kind of a...
And Sam's daddy.
"Just knock it off and give me the assignment, Rudy."
So he's the Secretary of State? Do we learn why the trip to Peking is so secretive?
He's implied to be. They make a big deal out of how important and valuable he is. I think the secrecy was mirroring something that Kissinger actually did with Russia or China.
It's funny that he was involved with the show here, as I always thought that the voice who says "Steve Austin, astronaut: a man barely alive" sounded like him; but sources tell me that was Harve Bennett.
It would be funny if the fake doctor and nurse were played by Clarence Williams and Peggy Lipton.
Captain Riding Crop. He was in something else just recently.
It came to my attention when he died that he was best known to TV audiences as the SWAT guy on
Hill Street Blues, whom I vaguely remember from background exposure to the show, though I didn't realize that was him.
They should have unplugged his arm and legs and brought him in as an amputee.
There ya go!
This was actually done with flatworms or something, but nothing as complex as a rat. And I'm not sure if the results were ever verified.
I had no idea there was any scientific basis for this!
Why would they even want an untrained scientist on the mission?
There was a handwave about how she best knew what to expect.
"Sorry, Erica, I'm not doing anything with Ventriss in there."
"Bristol, I want you to go--" To Be Continued!
More or less.
Dr Balinkoff-- who knows something about memory transfer.
Ah, yes.
Which is what exactly?
Save Not-Kissinger!
This seems to be the only payoff to the insanity foreshadowing. Do they say what becomes of her? Are they able to extract the dead brain tissue from her head? Is she forever plagued by memories not her own? Does the ghost of Ventriss eventually take over, driving her to become an evil international criminal Lesbian? Inquiring minds want to know.
There was a last scene after her freak-out, when she was back in her hotel and Oscar was trying to get more info out of her. She said that there was nothing of Roger left, "It's just all blank, like an empty screen." Oscar responded, "You burned out." So I guess this was her version of what happened to the rat...she lost his memories.
Hmm, okay. I had always thought of him as another company clerk, specializing in medical support, but I also remember him walking guard duty, now that you mention it. So why wasn't it his job to deal with the sniper?
He wasn't in the episode.
) He leaves everything to Edith except his 48-star flag for Meathead and his living room chair for Gloria (which actually ended up in the Smithsonian); and blames Irene for killing him.
