John Larroquette once referred to Richard Moll as three of the five cheapest men he knew. He then told a story of how they were filming a scene that required Bull to borrow a dime from someone. It required a couple takes and after each one, the dime went straight into Moll’s pocket and he would borrow another dime in the next take.
I place it in my top five sitcoms, behind Arrested Development, Scrubs, and The Office, but it was definitely the funniest show of the '80s and early '90s. I loved that whole cast, and I’ve always been a huge fan of Harry Anderson whenever he pops back up to do anything else. He’s also a hell of a magician!
Feel free to check here.
(An episode about hypnotism gone wrong.)
Christine: ‘Bull! I want to be your love slave’ ('love slave being the trigger phrase.)
Bull: ‘Say! That is good news!’
What’s his name, Kramer from Seinfeld, played an “invisible” man.
Michael Richards! They even showed him in the Nick At Nite commercial spots.
Dan greeting a group of rollerskaters from a Thanksgiving pageant:
Love your eyes.
Love your thighs.
Love your lips.
Love your hips.
Love your hair.
Nice butt.
What about Phil, the homeless guy that Dan “befriended”? Didn’t he turn out to be loaded when he died?
I wasn’t allowed to watch this show when it was first out so I get to see them now, all while feeling a little naughty. I know I managed to see a few of them originally, but I didn’t get half of the jokes. I have had the theme song in my head all day.
– “Have you ever heard of the New York Harmonic?”
– “Don’t you mean the New York Philharmonic?”
– “Yeah, that’s what they call it now.”
They did have an unfortunate tendency to get all maudlin in the last third of each episode, though. To me, that’s the deal-breaker keeping this from being a truly great show. Had they anticipated the Seinfeldian “a show about nothing” idea and deliberately kept the sappy subtext out of the otherwise wacky misadventures, they’d be immortal.
Why did they kill off Phill, anyway? It happened offscreen between episodes (maybe seasons)–rather unsatisfactory to me. I remember this as the moment NC started to jump the shark.
I don’t know. I understand she might let you steal third base, so to speak, but she’ll make you stop right there before you go any further. She’ll have to know right then, do you love her? Will you love her forever? Do you need her? Will you never leave her? Will you make her so happy for the rest of her life? Will you take her away and will you make her your wife? Do you love her!? Will you love her forever!? Do you need her!? Will you never leave her!? Will you make her so happy for the rest of my life!? Will you take her away and will you make her your wife!? She’ll have to know right then before you go any further! Do you love her!!!? Will you love her forever!!!?
Sounds like a bit of a tease with some major hangups if you ask me. You might be tempted, when you’re crazed and when the feeling comes upon you like a tidal wave to start swearing to your god and on your mother’s grave that you’ll love you to the end of time, but I’m given to understand that might lead to some regret later on.
I’m not awake enough right now to say anything but that this thread has brought back fond memories of a dead good show. Oh, and Alan Smithee, I’m a huge Meatloaf fan. Thanks for the reference! 
CJ
Hey, no prob! I was looking forward to meeting you at Gettysdope until I ran into some issues that kept me from going, so I’m glad I could throw out a few song lyrics for you here.
PS–Blue Kangaroo was there in my stead and said some nice things about meeting you.
The exchange that immediately comes to mind:
Crazy Guy: I can’t stand this oxygen atmosphere! I need methane and ammonia!
Harry: Where’s he from?
Bull: New Jersey, your honor.
Wrong. It happened off-screen, yes, but in the middle of an episode. an discovered that Phil was a retired stockbroker who had 100K in a failed S&L. He wanted the money, so he had Phil meet him for lunch at the Russian Tea Room. Phil didn’t want to go, because it was near Carnegie Hall, and Phil was afraid of musical instruments.
Dan returns from lunch downcast, and when asked reveals that Phil was crushed by a falling piano on the sidewalk in front of Carenegie Hall. Hardly the kind of thing you could show on-screen in a sit-com!
Christine: “Where were you born?”
Crazy Guy: “One of the outermost moons of Pluto. A cold, lifeless place, where all emotion and even love was impossible. A cold, barren rock. Where you from?”
C: “Buffalo.”
CG: “Oh my God!”
See post #21.
…which was one of my favorite episodes too. At one point Bull attempts to recapture the wayward corpse by rigging a large fishing net in the hallway. When he drops it on Roz, the following exchange always killed me:
Roz: “Bull”
Bull: (hesitantly) “Yes Roz?”
Roz: “Do I look like a short dead Japanese guy in a wheelchair?”
followed by (IIRC) some physical admonishment being adminstered to Bull.
D’oh! Ok, I’ll give it to you, you got there first, and I completely missed it. Oh well, it was fun posting those lyrics.
(For anyone still wondering what’s going on, the actress who played Billie was also the female vocalist on Paradise By the Dashboard Lights, something I didn’t know untill I looked up information about the show while watching the recent marathon.)
Really? I don’t remeber Phil appearing in the episode at all. Maybe I tuned in in the middle of the episode. Funny, because I did the same thing when it came on during the marathon and tuned in right as they were looking at Phil’s obituary. I changed the channel because I thought it was the beginning of an episode I didn’t like.