"You Dirty Rat" features the TV debut of comedian Franklyn Ajaye, better known at the time as a writer, even before his starring turn in the cult hit "Car Wash" (1976). His character, Wendell Frazier, has been arrested for grand theft auto...stealing a police car! (he wanted to give it to his mother). J. Pat O'Malley (first of three) plays Mr. Holliman, a derelict caught sleeping in the 'executive washroom' of a huge department store, as he couldn't find an alarm clock. A failed drug bust finds the suspect still at large, but 20 kilos of pot confiscated. Complications arise when narcotics agent Delvecchio (Val Bisoglio) discovers only 18 still in the box (each kilo costs $1000). He's perfectly content to sweep it under the rug, but Barney won't hear of it: "that's NOT the way we do business around here...that didn't sound right!" It turns out that the monster packrat that bit Wojo is the real sneak thief, laid out by a shovel with a smile on his face. Fish has problems of his own, returning to work despite a painful kidney stone because he wants to be among friends. Barney suggests he should call his concerned wife Bernice- Fish: "I intend to, I believe in giving credit where credit is due!" The always delightful Ned Glass (first of two) plays the exterminator from 'Becker and Son' (the old man tells them, "I'm the son!"). The very funny Val Bisoglio (best remembered as John Travolta's father in "Saturday Night Fever") was originally cast in the filmed pilot, in the role that evolved into Yemana; it's too bad this was his only appearance on the actual series.
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