Welcome to Late Night Retro Television Reviews, a feature where we review some of our favorite and least favorite shows of the past! On Saturdays, I will be reviewing the Canadian sitcom, Check it Out, which ran in syndication from 1985 to 1988. The entire show is currently streaming on Tubi!
This week, Howard once again proves himself to be worst boyfriend ever.
Episode 1.6 “Seven Days Make A Week”
(Dir by Gary Plaxton, originally aired on November 6th, 1985)
So far, the first season of Check It Out! has been dominated by stories dealing with the romantic relationship between Howard and Edna. I’ve never really bought their relationship. Some of it is because Howard and Edna have supposedly been together for six years but they still often come across as just being work acquaintances. They seem more like friends than lovers, which makes all of the jokes about their sexual difficulties somewhat jarring. Just how devoted Howard and Edna are to each other seems to change from episode to episode. Unfortunately, Don Adams and Dinah Christie didn’t really have enough chemistry to help the audiences accept them as being a couple.
This episode, for example, finds Howard flirting with a health food representative named Michelle (Laura Dickson). Michelle has set up a table in the store and, because she’s wearing a cleavage-baring leotard, she soon has the attention of every guy in the store. Edna is concerned because she is planning on visiting her sister in Florida for a week and she doesn’t want to leave Howard alone with Michelle.
Fortunately, cashier Leslie (Aaron Schwartz) tells Edna that the last time that he and his boyfriend went on vacation together, Michelle was a guest at the resort and she was accompanied by her girlfriend. Edna says that women who are friends often go on vacation together. Leslie explains to Edna that Michelle and her girlfriend were more than just friends. Edna is overjoyed! Not only will she be on vacation but, while she’s gone, Howard will be humiliated when he tries to date a lesbian!
Seriously, this is does not sound like a healthy relationship. Edna is putting off her vacation because she’s convinced that Howard (who is also her boss, which brings up a whole other set of ethical questions) is going to cheat on her as soon as she leaves. But then she decides that she can go on vacation, not because she has any faith in Howard staying loyal to her but because she’s convinced that he’ll feel foolish once he does try to cheat on her. It never seems to occur to Edna that Michelle could have been bisexual or that Leslie might just have his information wrong.
Because …. guess what?
Leslie does have his information wrong! As soon as Edna leaves, Michelle tells Leslie that she and her girlfriend only pretended to be lovers so that all of the men at the resort would leave them alone. Leslie panics, especially when Michelle asks Howard if he wants to come by her apartment and have dinner. Howard agrees but — fear not! — Howard later tells Edna that he decided not to cheat on her because Michelle was boring.
(Myself, I’m trying to understand the idea of uptight, middle-aged Howard as being someone that anyone would fight over.)
Eh. Edna is so happy that Howard ultimately deciding not to cheat on her that she kind of overlooks the fact that he was planning on doing so in the first place. This episode required the audience to care about Howard and Edna’s relationship but since the relationship doesn’t really make sense, neither does the episode.
Through the Shattered Lens 