In memory of Alan Young, one of 2016’s victims:
I watched an episode of Mister Ed this morning. It was the one where Ed plays baseball with the Dodgers.
For a comedy about a talking horse from a decade famous for its dumb fantastical sitcoms, it was a wonderful episode that did something that today’s comedies never do. It made me laugh out loud. Ed’s prop body double sliding stiffly into home plate was hilariously fake looking, and was the perfect ending to an otherworldly story.
Leo Durocher guest starred, and for this Cub fan, it was just the icing on a World Series Win Cake!
Anyone else have fond memories of a stupid sitcom being exquisite for a tale or two?
The episode of The Beverly Hillbillies where Jethro is so smitten by a woman he’s ready to throw himself into the ce-ment pond after she ignores him.
JETHRO: Just wait ‘til she looks out the window and sees my lifeless body lyin’ on the ground! She’ll come runnin’ over and throw herself all over me!
JED: Well, yeah. But if you’re dead, what good’s that gonna do you?
[PAUSE WHILE JETHRO THINKS THIS OVER]
JETHRO: [Untying the weights around his feet] I purt’ near made a mistake!
The episode of Gilligan’s Island where they think the island is sinking into the ocean:
MR HOWELL: Quick, Lovey! Let’s see if we can’t think of some way we can take it with us!
Of course, just about any line from Jim Backus made me laugh out loud:
PROFESSOR: Mrs Howell, money cannot buy happiness.
**
MR HOWELL:** Well, it’s certainly kept me smiling for years!
[Then]
MRS HOWELL: Anyone who says money can’t buy happiness doesn’t know where to shop!
The episode of Hogan’s Heroes where they convince Klink et al. that the war’s over is a classic:
HOGAN: So, what are you gonna do now that the war’s over?
KLINK: Go back to work for my brother-in-law as a bookkeeper. And you, Schultz? Where did you work before the war?
SCHULTZ: The Schatzi Toy Company.
KLINK: Aha! Hogan, you wouldn’t know about this, but the Schatzi Toy Company is one of the biggest in Germany!** [PAUSE]** So, Schultz. You worked for the Schatzi Toy Company!
SCHULTZ: No, I *own *the Schatzi Toy Company!
KLINK: [At his brown-nosing best] Would you like a cigar…?