This is a great episode from the third season, the first episode to focus on Mama Carlson (Carol Bruce) and flesh out her backstory, her personality, and her interactions with the series regulars. (The story requires her son, the one person whose relationship with her is a known quantity, to be absent for most of the episode, so the writers can figure out how the other characters interact with her.) The late Carol Bruce is really great in this episode and some of the ideas introduced here became the basis for later stories, especially her advances to Andy.
Unfortunately this is another one where the missing-in-syndications scenes had to be edited in from a low-quality tape, but, again, it's better than being without the scenes that were cut in syndication, like Jennifer's drunk scene. (You know this already, but the difference between Loni Anderson and other late '70s sex symbols like Suzanne Somers and Farrah Fawcett is that Anderson was actually extremely talented, especially at comedy.) If anyone has a better-quality version of this episode, please contact me and we can work out a trade.
Music includes "Rough Boys" by Pete Townshend, "Hungry Heart" by Bruce Springsteen, "Duke of Earl" by Gene Chandler and "Someone To Watch Over Me" sung by Bruce. (I'm not sure about the song that's playing just before that.)
Your TV Guidance Blog doesn't allow comments, so I'm saying here that I just finished "Sit, Ubu, Sit," and it's excellent. It's a very interesting portrait of the backstage scenes at Goldberg's shows (without the bitterness and meanness that some in his position might have employed), and it also turns out that Goldberg himself has had a very interesting life, about which he writes engagingly. Really, a good read.
ReplyDeleteAmerican Life TV (ALN) is showing this very episode on Monday Feb. 25, at 7 PM and 10 PM (PST). I don't know how much (or how little) the episode will be cut.
ReplyDeleteI think that was the best episode they had, and they were able to tell it in just one episode, it flowed very smoothly.
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ReplyDeleteHerb turns the speaker on to Ray Charles' 1959 Atlantic recording of "Tell the Truth". Seriously cool & so is your blog. I just wanted to say thanks for all the entertaining stuff.
ReplyDeleteBeautifully done episode. I love the scene where Carol Bruce sings to the gang. Splendid!
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