Bowling episodes on TV sitcoms

It seems that every single television sitcom has at least one (tenpin) bowling episode during its run, with a select few containing multiple bowling episodes. Due to the nature of the game and the similarity between episodes, it seems like there is a specific protocol on how they set up the lane, ball return, etc.

Has anyone on the boards ever attended a taping of a bowling episode, or is there anyone with inside information on the protocol, i.e. How do they deal with a bowled ball? Who owns the equipment; certainly not the shows’ producers? I guess the audience is told to applaud as if a strike was bowled and to groan upon the bowling of an open frame? Thanks.

Darn, I’m sorry for my recent rash of misplaced posts; I meant for this to go in Cafe Society. Sorry for the extra work, Mods.

I’ve seen a lot of tv sitcoms, and, for the life of me, I can’t think of a single bowling episode. Please, refresh my memory. I’ll give you a few sitcoms:

Seinfeld
All in the Family
Frasier
MAS*H
The Cosby Show
The Bob Newhart Show
Newhart
The Andy Griffith Show
Saved by the Bell
The Odd Couple
Everybody Loves Raymond
Archie Bunker’s Place
King of the Hill
The Simpsons
Taxi
Barney Miller
Cheers
Sanford and Son
The Mary Tyler Moore Show
The Dick van Dyke Show

And you better not be attempting a lame whoosh either!

Off to Cafe Society.

DrMatrix - GQ Moderator

MAS*H - the MASH unit versus a Marine outfit. Margaret throws the winning ball
The Simpsons - Homer bowls a 300 game
Married with Children - Al and the No-Ma’am boys win the Puggy Cup

I’m sure I’ll think of others later.

“Malcolm In the Middle” - the episode in which they show how an evening can have very different outcomes depending on whether it’s Mom or Dad who takes you bowling…

Simpsons – The one where marge has an affair with the bowling instructor:

Life on the Fast Lane (#7G11) 18 Mar 1990

There’s also the episode where Homer gets Mr. Burns to sponsor a league team, composed of Homer, Otto, Apu, and Moe.

All in the Family:

Archie and the Bowling Team: December 16, 1972

Dick Van Dyke Show:

“The Twizzle” Episode 23, February 28, 1962

I remember an episode of The Drew Carey Show where Drew and Mimi bowl for money against a team of doctors.

Cheers episode 78, From Beer to Eternity.

On All in the Family the bowling in all of the episodes is dealt with off screen.

The Odd Couple:

“To Bowl or Not to Bowl” Episode 94, September 19, 1974

The setup of the lane, ball return, etc. are governed by the American Bowling Congress (In America, at least. I imagine other countries have similar organizations.) The rules are intricate. Very intricate. (Did you know that it’s not allowed to put ArmorAll on a bowling ball?)

As for who owns the equipment - It normally belongs to the bowling alley they’re taping in. Being a “location” shot, there’s probably no audience at all, and audience reactions are dubbed in as if it were a laugh track.

King of the Hill:

“Transnational Amusements Presents: Peggy’s Magic Sex Feet” Episode 83, May 14, 2000

Well, sure, I know about the ABC and bowling (both small-ball and tenpin) in some detail, but I didn’t think they’d care to regulate the appearance of the apparatus on the set.

Which leads me to my next question: Are you sure they always shoot in an alley? I was watching a repeat of Home Improvement tonight (the inspiration for this thread) and it looked suspiciously like a set to me (same with Married With Children, etc., as opposed to the scenes on The Andy Griffith Show and Malcolm In The Middle which are for sure located in a real alley (and rather dramatically so in the case of the latter!).

Yeah. I almost learned the hard way that you have to watch it with certain household cleaners, as well – especially with today’s balls that chip easily if you throw too many gutter-balls. Something about decreasing the durometer, I think – as if such an advantage is neccessary with the relatively Super-Ball™ consistency of said balls.

It seems I used to watch more TV than I readily admit. Here are episodes I recall:

In the Cheers episode, Diane was compelled to admit that she bowled in college to satisy a physical education requirement. The best moment in the show was when Norm Peterson walked into the bowling alley’s lounge and everyone shouted “Norm!”. Sam asked how it was possible everyone there new him, and Cliff said something such as: “Hey: he’s got a life besides you.”

There was an episode of The Real McCoys where Richard Crenna felt guilty and embarrassed because he had a female bowling partner other than his wife. This may have been considered racy at the time.

On My Three Sons there was an episode where Fred MacMurray takes Beverly Garland to a bowling alley and she seems insanely competitive–a weakness she had wanted to conceal from him.

On Designing Women the women all went bowling to get in good with a prospective client. Annie Potts does a kind of caricature of a loud-mouthed, vulgar, male bowler, and the potential client, revolted, decides to hire a group of gay men who are good sportsmen instead.

On Roseanne there was an episode in which Booker, Jackie’s old supervisor at the plastic factory, makes a bet with her that if he outscores her at bowling she will spend the night with him. He wins, and she is disappointed when he does not enforce the bet. There were also a number of jokes about how Roseanne was completely inept at bowling.

On Laverne and Shirley there was an episode in which Lennie and Squiggy try hitting on women at a bowling alley by telling them they are the heirs to the Schotzky Beer forturne, Lennie and Squiggy Schotzky.

I don’t believe there was an episode set in an alley on Benson, but for a time there were numerous references to Inga Swenson dating a man who liked to take her bowling.

Similarly, I don’t recall any scenes in a bowling alley on The Honeymooners, but there were numerous references. In a Christmas episode which parodied O. Henry’s The Gift of the Magi, Ralph pawned his bowling ball so he could afford a gift for Alice. She, in turn, buys him a new bowling ball bag.

As noted above, there is an episode of The Drew Carey Show in which Drew and Mimi became bowling hustlers.

Bowling has figured more than once on The Simpsons. In one of my favorite episodes, Homer told of how he quit his job at the power plant shortly before Maggie was born, and realized his lifelong dream of becoming a professional pin monkey. It was revealed that replacement bowling pins are continually being whittled in the basement of the alley, one each from enormous tree trunks.

On The Andy Griffith Show, Howard Sprague was on his way to bowling a perfect game. His team and their opponents got into a big bet, and then, at the start of the tenth frame, there was a blackout. It was decided that they would come back the next week to bowl the last frame, and ost of the show was about the tension Howard was feeling. I don’t recall the conclusion.

While I don’t recall specifics, it seems likely there were numerous bowling references on The Odd Couple. So too on The Flintstones.

On Cheers, Roseanne, and (I believe) The Andy Griffith Show and Laverne and Shirley many shots were done from the point of view of the end of the lane, as though the camera was in the way of the pins. The Real McCoys and My Three Sons episodes appear to have been shot in real alleys. The only scenes I remember from Designing Women were from the area at the front of the lanes.

There’s also an episode of Newhart where Stephanie goes bowling with Michael, and is heartbroken and ashamed to find she actually likes such a low, proletarian pursuit. I believe all of the scenes took place prior to leaving and after returning from the alley.