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Original Air Date: November 14, 1987 Review completed August 13, 2007 "The Matchmaker" Henry is being groomed for a blind date Punky and Cherie set up, and he's not terribly happy about it. His attitude improves upon actually meeting Ms. Camille Maytag, however, and the success gives the girls the idea to fix up Betty. After some bad early attempts (and Betty's protests), Betty is eventually convinced to appear on "Dream Date", Chicago's most romantic dating show. There's only two people standing in Betty's way to having a good time on the show: A busty beautician with an attitude, and Mr. Dream Date himself, a "stunt double for Mr. T" who turns out to have half the cool and twice the bulk. Surprisingly, though, they end up having a great time, just as Henry's whirlwind romance comes to a crashing halt. The first couple of segments on this episode certainly show off this mix. Five minutes of just playing the situation means we're in for a low-plot, high-dialogue experience. That did work well last time, yes, but it's hard to tell early in the episode. For that matter, it's hard to tell late in the episode because things speed up a bit in the last third. Quick throwback to "Open Door, Broken Heart" here: Brandon, if he's not actually being a dog, is best used in small doses. See this episode, particularly the initial shoe-shining gag. Meanwhile, something else that could have used a small dose is the puns on the name "Ms. Maytag". My notes start off resisting the urge to make a bad joke about the name, and then go on with about five different points telling Henry to shut up whenever he makes his. Seriously, a running gag about appliance names? Not even a nod to the horrors of blind dating? Or did the writers want to save that for later? Maybe they wanted to mirror the uneven patch the production team was going through. A sound effect comes up when Henry and Maytag meet that dropped my jaw, because holy crap was that ever awful. I'm not even certain how to describe it in words. On the other hand, there's a VERY nice touch on the scene transition moving into one of the picture frames, then fading into the picture that was there! It was a beautiful trick, and not something you'd expect with the "$2.50 and a bus token" budget at this time. Despite the awful, awful naming jokes, Henry actually comes across well... okay, for the first few minutes. A quick throw-away sentence shows a little disdain for amateur photographers, which is actually something that could become interesting with a little thought behind it later. Also, he busts out, "The last successful blind date was Adam and Eve. And the only reason they had a good time was because of the way they were dressed." Hah, sounds like Henry to me, despite his awful puns. After the first few minutes, though, it's campy joke Henry. My response to that was unprintable, but it's especially aggravating with how he's just running right over the episode. I mean, Gaynes is chewing the scenery with a smile here. Good thing he likes it. It got so bad that I wrote a point consisting of "Henry, you make me want to bang my head. Literally. Off of a coffee table. The corner." I laughed a bit at Punky and Cherie finishing "Celebrate" with an interjection. But only a bit, and that was pretty much my only laugh involving Henry that wasn't in the first few minutes. Come on. Okay, enough of beating on Henry, let's talk about beating on Betty. And she really takes a beating in this episode, especially with "No one we knew wanted to go out with you." Ouch. That can't have been a good time to be Susie Garrett, with the multiple blows to the ego and all. What's more, she works her butt off in this episode, trying to rein in her performance so that she doesn't impale herself on the part like her co-star George "Throwing Himself Off The Westinghouse" Gaynes. Speaking of more to Betty: "Now that Grampa's gone..."? Well THAT'S something I never thought of... Betty's husband. I wonder why she's never been mentioned before, especially since the earliest episodes had Henry being a widow as one of his main traits. It's a nice touch, though, since it explains some of the bond between Henry and Betty. Not that any of that gets brought up for Henry AT ALL, but that's an interesting point for Betty. After all, she's not all that old. Coming up next: "Dream Date: Chicago's most romantic show". Dating shows on local channels? And as always, starring David Ruprecht. You may remember him as the host of Supermarket Sweep (don't lie and say you never watched it), but how many times did David Ruprecht play a game show host before actually becoming one? At least once here, and at least twice on Small Wonder, and I'm sure I'm missing a bunch because my knowledge of older sitcoms doesn't stray too far from those two. He's also doing a too good job of portraying a host in a desperate situation. Take that how you will. Betty's opposition on the show also raised some eyebrow. On the one hand, an all-purpose hippie type who looks like the world's biggest idiot. Not so much to say there, since even the other characters thinks it's dumb. But check out the beautician! Not because she's all that attractive, but... well, I never thought I'd write this for Punky Brewster, but are those real? Her hair isn't, though I can't figure out why she takes a generic black-haired wig to cover some fairly nice blonde locks. Also, she gets all the faux Mae West lines, just in case we don't get it. Actually, opposition is about the right word, given the (very bad) fight that breaks out. The fight from "The KO Kid" looked about this good. Then again, they usually edit these things, and I'm pretty sure they don't let contestants fight on air. Jerry Springer became famous for that, because it hadn't been done before. Speaking of edit, the beautician can say a seductive "Slippery When Wet", but you dance out the issue of breasts a couple of episodes ago? As bad as the dream date guy would be in real life, I dug him on the show. I know I came up with a whole bunch of ways to describe him, like "Urkel's fat twin" and "the fat nerdy guy from What's Happening Now?". However, I don't think anyone can beat his lie about being a stunt double for Mr. T. Yeah, it was a lie. I don't remember what he actually did and I don't care enough to check again. The cover story is funnier. I'm out of notes, and I'm out of noteworthy episode. So once again, [Punky reaction shot out]. Anyone notice that happening a lot lately? That last part wasn't bad at all, and Henry's grousing about the blind date was nice. Not so nice is taken up by Henry in the rest of the episode. And notice that I didn't mention the girls all that much, so that would be your filler. Yes, we have a Punky Brewster episode where Punky herself is mostly filler. Real classy. Oh well, at least Betty got a good episode in for once. We'll put it on her compilation, edit out any time Henry is on the screen, and all will be fine. - Jimmy Vibes |