0214  -  "Guys and Dolls"


"What's the matter, Kel? Contractions 5 minutes apart?" (Bud)

Let's start off negatively, for a change, by noting that this episode is
positively dire in many respects. Al and Steve wandering the streets looking
for the Barbie doll is long, drawn-out padding that isn't even particularly
funny to begin with. This episode forms a kind-of-nice parallel to
"Sleepless in Chicago", several years later, in that both deal with Marcy's
weird obsession with Barbie. Here, Peg joins in, but Katey Sagal seems to be
sleepwalking throughout the episode and, in several scenes, looks bored when
she delivers her lines. For once, the kids get good lines that are funny;
believe it or not, Gilligan's Island hasn't been on UK television for a very
long time, but even so I know enough about it from watching all the other
shows that mention it. Must've been very ingrained in American culture. A
bit like MWC should've been. In fact, the kids pretty much outdo the adults
in this episode.

"I didn't need boys. I had Barbie." (Marcy)
"And I had a very special bath toy." (Peg)

In fact (again), thinking about it, in many ways the roles of adult and kid
are reversed in this episode. We see Kelly struggling with work and we see
Bud patiently tolerating the efforts of Al and Steve to get him to do
something; on the other hand, Peggy and Marcy play with dolls while the men
collect baseball cards and jump with glee when they find Ernie Banks (later
to appear in "Dancing with Weezie", unless I'm confusing things). It's
another nice idea that doesn't quite come off, because while the kids are
happy to act adult, the same does not apply to the older actors. I suspect
this is another case of the writers devising the title first and then
applying an episode around it, being as the title's nicked (again). 

"Men are such idiots and I married their king." (Peg)

Rating: 5, and that's generous.