Season One Ep 6 Any Friend of Diane's

Coach: How's life treating you, Norm?

Norm: Like he caught me in bed with his wife.

Ken Levine and David Isaacs give us a glimpse of what might've been with Newhart's Julia Duffy guesting as Diane's old friend from school. Duffy was in the running for the role of Diane as originally conceived as Sam's executive boss--the same dynamic they later used with Rebecca Howe after Diane's departure--and even the character's name, Rebecca Prout, rings awfully familiar. Rebecca's in town looking for some rebound action to blot out the memory of her cheating fiancé. Specifically, she wants a man from "peasant stock, tall, dark, strong, with hairy arms", and entirely non-intellectual, for "an evening of unbridled bestial pleasure. I want to burn at the stake of passion." Enter Sam. Diane feigns shock, "who, the gay guy with the war wound?" to throw her friend off Sam's scent, but Rebecca's not buying it, and Diane's not much more convincing when she assures her old friend she has zero interest in Mr. Malone. After Diane begs Sam to just say "no", no matter what Rebecca asks of him, Rebecca inquires whether Sam would object to "joining me in my hotel room for an afternoon of wild animal passion?", and Sam's only too happy to respond, "no". So off they go, leaving Diane in a jealous snit.

 

Meanwhile, Norm brings by his new boss, Darrell Stabell (Macon McCalman), with plans to ply him with booze. But the guy's a teetotaler, harshing Norm's alcoholic mellow, until he decides to let his hair down and have a few sips. Before long, Norm's new boss is buzzed, waxing nostalgic about his dashed dreams of becoming a dancer in his youth. 

Sam returns, having skipped out on Rebecca after growing weary of her ponderous pillow talk before anything happens between them. Maybe I've been lonely too long, but there ain't no Russian poetry bleak enough to dampen my ardour for Julia Duffy! Or maybe Sam's just a little too fond of Diane to settle for the next best thing. Diane's relieved her old chum didn't knock boots with Sam until Rebecca returns, distraught over being abandoned, and feeling even less confident than before. Diane thinks fast, pretending she and Sam are in an on/off relationship that's now back on, assuring Rebecca that Sam's rejection was only borne out of his fidelity to her. To really sell the lie, Sam takes the opportunity to get all handsy with Diane, and Rebecca leaves, self-esteem restored. Here we get some real sparks as Diane takes a swing at Sam for the groping, and even more groping ensues as they tumble onto the couch. Rebecca steps back in to grab her sweater and--kinda correctly--takes their wrestling for a make-out session, pining, "that's the kind of passion I was hoping I'd find." The whole boss/employee mild molestation thing would be way too Matt Lauer if not for the fact that these two people clearly like each other. The chemistry's really starting to heat up here!

Danson Hair

The office setting (only Coach and his daughter have used the office prior to this episode) casts a whole new light on Sam's hair, revealing a random dash of grey! 

Guest Stars

- Julia Duffy (Rebecca Prout) joined Newhart in '83 as Stephanie Vanderkellen, going on to further sitcom success with shows like Designing Women and The Mommies, and guesting on tonnes more. But it's Newhart that really gave her a chance to shine. I'm tempted to highlight the legendarily absurd final episode of Newhart, but a lesser-known classic deserves some love: Season 8's Born to be Mild reunited George's old gang, The Hooligans, for a West Side Story-style rumble with their old rivals, The Ruffians. They even get hoodies made for the occasion, but a printing error winds up labeling them as 'The Hooligals' and 'The Puffians'. It all comes to a head in an alley fight that's just slightly less macho than Michael Jackson's Beat It video.  

                                                                     "That's it. We rumble!"

- Macon McCalman (Darrell Stabell) had a long career in film (Fried Green Tomatoes, Deliverance) and TV playing cops and other starchy authority figures, but one film stands out in his resume...I haven't seen it, but Timerider: The Adventure of Lyle Swann looks bonkers. Packed with an all-star cast of "hey, I know that guy!" character actors, and starring sturdy Fred Ward, it looks like it was hugely influential on Back to the Future which came along just three years later. It also looks like it would make a great double feature with Ward's wacky Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins. 

And it was co-written, produced and scored by media entrepreneur/innovator and former Monkee, Mike Nesmith! I'll hop on any opportunity to share this gorgeous Monkees tune written by Death Cab's Ben Gibbard and beautifully sung by Mike and Mickey Dolenz: 

Stray Thought

Carla's shirt trips me out in this episode. Split down the middle with vertical stripes on her left, and horizontal on the right, the vertical stripes for slimming/horizontal for widening illusion's in full effect here, and Perlman looks asymmetrical. Adorable, but lopsided!