Pure comic genius is displayed in the scene with Spence and Betty. Inputting the name "Betty Gutenplant" has me rolling and still does every time I watch it. You have to watch it to believe it!
2 Reviews
Betty Gutenplant
gkanary27 February 2020
Dumb and not funny
FlushingCaps14 February 2014
Warning: Spoilers
On St. Valentine's Day, before leaving for work in the morning, Doug is called by his boss and told he is needed for a special delivery of 2 penguins to a zoo in Albany.
This means that he has to cancel his plans for an outing with Carrie for that night. Later we see Doug driving a truck and Deacon riding shotgun complaining about Doug not sticking to the route.
Deacon directs Doug to take the next exit and apparently Doug stays in the left lane until they are passing it. Then he tries to swerve quickly and the truck apparently leaves the road and stalls, without hitting anything. They hear a noise in the back, suggesting a problem with the penguins.
We see the inside of the back of the truck, with two dog carriers, one with the door open. In a minute, we see a penguin walking around. Doug and Deacon act as though a wild bear is loose, then the penguin walks back into his cage.
But they find out the door to let them out cannot be opened without a key--which of course, they left in the ignition. So they spend much of the show trapped in the back of the truck.
Meanwhile, Carrie takes a depressed Holly to a nightclub to meet guys. To her surprise, her boss, Mr. Pruzan is there and he and Holly seem to hit it off. This of course bothers her, so she steps outside into the alley and meets a seedy-looking guy and bums a cigarette because whenever she wants to, she smokes, even though she is supposedly not in the habit of doing it.
Why this show is so dumb:
1. Albany is only 160 miles from Queens. That means with good traffic, it shouldn't take even three hours--or six hours for the round trip. Why on earth should Doug not expect to be back in time for his date with his wife?
2. Since it shouldn't take that long for the trip, why does IPS need to send Deacon to ride alongside Doug? As stated early on, Doug was needed because a few people were out sick. I would think Deacon could have taken one of their routes.
3. There is only one expressway from NYC to Albany. We were told Doug was taking an alternate route, yet he supposedly got into his mess because he almost missed an "exit." Highways have intersections and if you miss, you just turn around at the nearest driveway or side street.
4. I find it hard to accept that these valuable zoo penguins are just stuck in normal dog/cat carriers that are positioned in a way that a sudden stop causes them to fly around and open up. If the zoo knew about this, they would surely be seeking a different package delivery company next time.
5. The whole door-cannot-be-opened-from-inside-without-a-key setup seems preposterous. Actually, leaving the keys in the ignition while BOTH men go inside the back also seems unlikely.
6. The whole time they were locked inside, nobody mentioned a cell phone. This was a 2003 show and it's hard to believe neither of them had one with them.
Carrie's desire for Holly to not have one date with her boss was also dumb but that is the type of character she is, so I didn't care about that.
I accept that some goofy situations have to have some element that seems dumb or unlikely, but this one was so packed full of stupidity that it didn't make me laugh at all.
This means that he has to cancel his plans for an outing with Carrie for that night. Later we see Doug driving a truck and Deacon riding shotgun complaining about Doug not sticking to the route.
Deacon directs Doug to take the next exit and apparently Doug stays in the left lane until they are passing it. Then he tries to swerve quickly and the truck apparently leaves the road and stalls, without hitting anything. They hear a noise in the back, suggesting a problem with the penguins.
We see the inside of the back of the truck, with two dog carriers, one with the door open. In a minute, we see a penguin walking around. Doug and Deacon act as though a wild bear is loose, then the penguin walks back into his cage.
But they find out the door to let them out cannot be opened without a key--which of course, they left in the ignition. So they spend much of the show trapped in the back of the truck.
Meanwhile, Carrie takes a depressed Holly to a nightclub to meet guys. To her surprise, her boss, Mr. Pruzan is there and he and Holly seem to hit it off. This of course bothers her, so she steps outside into the alley and meets a seedy-looking guy and bums a cigarette because whenever she wants to, she smokes, even though she is supposedly not in the habit of doing it.
Why this show is so dumb:
1. Albany is only 160 miles from Queens. That means with good traffic, it shouldn't take even three hours--or six hours for the round trip. Why on earth should Doug not expect to be back in time for his date with his wife?
2. Since it shouldn't take that long for the trip, why does IPS need to send Deacon to ride alongside Doug? As stated early on, Doug was needed because a few people were out sick. I would think Deacon could have taken one of their routes.
3. There is only one expressway from NYC to Albany. We were told Doug was taking an alternate route, yet he supposedly got into his mess because he almost missed an "exit." Highways have intersections and if you miss, you just turn around at the nearest driveway or side street.
4. I find it hard to accept that these valuable zoo penguins are just stuck in normal dog/cat carriers that are positioned in a way that a sudden stop causes them to fly around and open up. If the zoo knew about this, they would surely be seeking a different package delivery company next time.
5. The whole door-cannot-be-opened-from-inside-without-a-key setup seems preposterous. Actually, leaving the keys in the ignition while BOTH men go inside the back also seems unlikely.
6. The whole time they were locked inside, nobody mentioned a cell phone. This was a 2003 show and it's hard to believe neither of them had one with them.
Carrie's desire for Holly to not have one date with her boss was also dumb but that is the type of character she is, so I didn't care about that.
I accept that some goofy situations have to have some element that seems dumb or unlikely, but this one was so packed full of stupidity that it didn't make me laugh at all.
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