When Dick makes some tepid remarks about JoAnn to a local interviewer, she gets furious. There is a really amazing scene at the dinner table. So, she decides to put value in her life by getting a job at a travel agency. Jerry Van Dyke plays the neurotic office manager. Sometimes I forget that he, while overshadowed by his brother, had a good deal of comedic talent.
3 Reviews
Backdoor Pilot for Jerry Van Dyke?
GaryPeterson6725 January 2024
As I watched Jerry Van Dyke hamming it up, literally banging his head on the wall, I kept thinking this must have been a backdoor pilot for a sitcom revolving around Roy Herzog and his dysfunctional travel agency (note the staircase in the back; were they trying to give it a CHEERS vibe?). If it was, I don't think it would have gone the distance for Jerry like COACH would six years later (and instead would've been another MY MOTHER THE CAR on his checkered resume).
Joanna's taking offense at Dick calling her a "homebody" and impulsively striking out into the working world was just a set up for Jerry Van Dyke's guest star turn. I suspect this was series creator and executive producer Barry Kemp trying to mend fences after the George Utley role that was initially written for Van Dyke ultimately went to Tom Poston. Jerry is very funny as the very unprofessional boss, from his white socks to his cluttered desk and shambles of an office. I can see why Roy's longsuffering wife packs him lunches he hates in a chipped container.
(Barry may have had fences to mend at home as well, since his wife Maggie was cast in her first credited acting role as travel agent Betty Houser. Shades of "Put me in the show, Ricky!")
Joanna proved the perfect foil for Roy, keeping poised and professional as he ranted and rampaged, demonstrating his flair for physical comedy. But as scatterbrained as Roy was, he was right--taking this job was only a whim for Joanna. She just hadn't admitted it to herself... yet. When she realized she made a mistake, she fulfilled Roy's prophecy of quitting, and two weeks shy of the two weeks he optimistically predicted. Oh, well, Joanna learned a lesson, and Frank made ten bucks.
Speaking of Frank, my biggest laugh of the episode came when he poked his head in asking the bus fare to Dayton just as Roy was regaling Joanna on the travel agent's role in dispatching vacationers to faraway places with strange sounding names.
Meanwhile, back at the inn the laughs were few and strained. NEWHART can be a mean-edged show. Yeah, you expect it from Kirk, but Dick is often an insensitive boor and warming up to him is proving a challenge even after twenty shows. George ain't the sharpest tool in his shed, but he knows enough to keep his mouth shut. The oft-celebrated gravy scene was less funny and more a revenge-fueled but thoroughly deserved comeuppance.
Joanna proved that in addition to being childish in that gravy scene, she can be impulsive, flighty, and self-centered. She's miffed that Kirk, Leslie, and George ignored her big announcement, but c'mon, they were fully immersed in a Monopoly game. Same for Dick, whose work she diminished when barging in and blithely yanking his paper out of the typewriter because she had an announcement that couldn't wait. That wasn't funny; that was aggressively narcissistic.
Alas, poor Jennifer Holmes as Leslie, stuck in a thankless role that stubbornly defies humor. (Well, that outfit she was wearing was pretty funny. I mean, what's with the woolen knee socks?) Anyway, she's studying "Renaissance Theology" yet never gives evidence of religious faith. Her Olympic aspirations were a plot point in one show when she was accidentally injured (okay, when Dick fell on her, to name names). Outside of being the obscure object of Kirk's desire (ie, lust), Leslie was written into a tight corner and while I feel awful Holmes was pink slipped at season's end, I understand why the decision was made.
Y'know, thinking back now on that episode, "Sprained Dreams," Dick demonstrated what an insufferable narcissist he can be too. Hey, I finished my book, so Leslie should immediately abandon her studies and drop all her plans so she can accommodate my whim to go skiing. And if she puts up even mild resistance, I'll pile on the emotional blackmail. (Remember when Kirk called Dick out for thinking he's the center of the universe?) Hmm, it's no wonder Dick and Joanna hit it off so well at the New York ad agency where they met and fell in love. Once the rings were on, Dick quit to write full-time, leaving Joanna to bear the burden of breadwinner. He's accustomed to other people ensuring he gets his way.
The newspaper interview that sparked this tempest in a teapot was mildly funny, minus Leslie's reciting of her resume. Joanna lavishly flattered Dick and of course expected Dick to reciprocate. Obtuse as he is shallow, Dick could only come up with "homebody" as the quality he treasures most about Joanna, and then he proceeds to define it down as free from all responsibility and divorced from the real world. Wow, now that I think back on it, impulsively childish or not, Joanna should have dumped that cold gravy over Dick's head instead of his plate!
Joanna's taking offense at Dick calling her a "homebody" and impulsively striking out into the working world was just a set up for Jerry Van Dyke's guest star turn. I suspect this was series creator and executive producer Barry Kemp trying to mend fences after the George Utley role that was initially written for Van Dyke ultimately went to Tom Poston. Jerry is very funny as the very unprofessional boss, from his white socks to his cluttered desk and shambles of an office. I can see why Roy's longsuffering wife packs him lunches he hates in a chipped container.
(Barry may have had fences to mend at home as well, since his wife Maggie was cast in her first credited acting role as travel agent Betty Houser. Shades of "Put me in the show, Ricky!")
Joanna proved the perfect foil for Roy, keeping poised and professional as he ranted and rampaged, demonstrating his flair for physical comedy. But as scatterbrained as Roy was, he was right--taking this job was only a whim for Joanna. She just hadn't admitted it to herself... yet. When she realized she made a mistake, she fulfilled Roy's prophecy of quitting, and two weeks shy of the two weeks he optimistically predicted. Oh, well, Joanna learned a lesson, and Frank made ten bucks.
Speaking of Frank, my biggest laugh of the episode came when he poked his head in asking the bus fare to Dayton just as Roy was regaling Joanna on the travel agent's role in dispatching vacationers to faraway places with strange sounding names.
Meanwhile, back at the inn the laughs were few and strained. NEWHART can be a mean-edged show. Yeah, you expect it from Kirk, but Dick is often an insensitive boor and warming up to him is proving a challenge even after twenty shows. George ain't the sharpest tool in his shed, but he knows enough to keep his mouth shut. The oft-celebrated gravy scene was less funny and more a revenge-fueled but thoroughly deserved comeuppance.
Joanna proved that in addition to being childish in that gravy scene, she can be impulsive, flighty, and self-centered. She's miffed that Kirk, Leslie, and George ignored her big announcement, but c'mon, they were fully immersed in a Monopoly game. Same for Dick, whose work she diminished when barging in and blithely yanking his paper out of the typewriter because she had an announcement that couldn't wait. That wasn't funny; that was aggressively narcissistic.
Alas, poor Jennifer Holmes as Leslie, stuck in a thankless role that stubbornly defies humor. (Well, that outfit she was wearing was pretty funny. I mean, what's with the woolen knee socks?) Anyway, she's studying "Renaissance Theology" yet never gives evidence of religious faith. Her Olympic aspirations were a plot point in one show when she was accidentally injured (okay, when Dick fell on her, to name names). Outside of being the obscure object of Kirk's desire (ie, lust), Leslie was written into a tight corner and while I feel awful Holmes was pink slipped at season's end, I understand why the decision was made.
Y'know, thinking back now on that episode, "Sprained Dreams," Dick demonstrated what an insufferable narcissist he can be too. Hey, I finished my book, so Leslie should immediately abandon her studies and drop all her plans so she can accommodate my whim to go skiing. And if she puts up even mild resistance, I'll pile on the emotional blackmail. (Remember when Kirk called Dick out for thinking he's the center of the universe?) Hmm, it's no wonder Dick and Joanna hit it off so well at the New York ad agency where they met and fell in love. Once the rings were on, Dick quit to write full-time, leaving Joanna to bear the burden of breadwinner. He's accustomed to other people ensuring he gets his way.
The newspaper interview that sparked this tempest in a teapot was mildly funny, minus Leslie's reciting of her resume. Joanna lavishly flattered Dick and of course expected Dick to reciprocate. Obtuse as he is shallow, Dick could only come up with "homebody" as the quality he treasures most about Joanna, and then he proceeds to define it down as free from all responsibility and divorced from the real world. Wow, now that I think back on it, impulsively childish or not, Joanna should have dumped that cold gravy over Dick's head instead of his plate!
Dick calls Joanna a homebody
Jimmy_the_Gent428 January 2018
Joanna is insulted when Dick calls her a homebody in a magazine interview so she looks for a job as a real estate agent.
A funny episode with a good performance by Mary Frann. She has some funny moments when Dick wants gravy with his meal. Jerry Van Dyke has a hilarious guest appearance as a harried office manager.
A funny episode with a good performance by Mary Frann. She has some funny moments when Dick wants gravy with his meal. Jerry Van Dyke has a hilarious guest appearance as a harried office manager.
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