Welcome to Retro Television Reviews, a feature where we review some of our favorite and least favorite shows of the past!  On Thursdays, I will be reviewing Jennifer Slept Here, which aired on NBC in 1983 and 1984.  The entire show is currently streaming on YouTube!

This week’s episode made me cry.

Episode 1.11 “Life With Grandfather”

(Dir by John Bowab, originally aired on April 28th, 1984)

George Elliott’s father, Barney (Milo O’Shea), is coming to visit.  He’ll be staying up in the attic, which upsets Jennifer until Barney actually arrives and she discovers that Barney is a lovable eccentric who loves her movies and spends his time trying to invent new toys.

Unfortunately, the rest of the family is not as thrilled to have Barney around as Jennifer is.  Barney and George have a strained relationship and Joey keeps making excuses not to spend time with his grandfather.  Jennifer is the only one who understands how lonely Barney is but she can’t help him because Barney can’t see her.

Sadly, that changes when one of Barney’s toys explodes in the attic.  Suddenly, Barney can see Jennifer and Jennifer can talk to him.  That’s because Barney is dead.  Jennifer helps Barney come to terms with being dead and she also tells him that he’s not alone because there’s ghosts all over the place.  Barney says that he had so much he still wanted to tell his family and Jennifer assures Barney that his family had a lot that they wanted to tell him.  It’s a surprisingly poignant scene, one that is wonderfully acted by both Ann Jillian and Milo O’Shea.

The episodes jumps forward a few days.  George and Joey are still struggling to come to terms with Barney’s death.  George admits that he was never as close to his father as he wishes he had been and that he has a lot regrets about not getting to tell Barney how much he loved him before he died.  Joey, for his part, goes up to his bedroom and tells Jennifer that he wants to talk to his grandfather.  Joey feels that, since he can talk to Jennifer’s ghost, he should also be able to talk to his grandfather’s ghost.  Jennifer gently explains that Barney has moved on and Joey can’t talk to him anymore but he can continue to love him.

I mean …. MY GOD!  Though this series is admittedly uneven, I’ve enjoyed the majority of the episodes of Jennifer Slept Here that I’ve watched.  But I never thought that this show would bring me to tears.  This was such a sweet and poignant episode and I think it’s one to which everyone watching could relate.  We all have loved ones who we miss and we wish we could speak to.  And sadly, we rarely say everything that we want to say to people while they’re still here.  Joey’s desire to speak to his grandfather is an emotion that we’ve all felt.  But Barney has moved on and the show deserves a lot of credit for not going for the easy solution and having Barney suddenly return to say goodbye to Joey.  Instead, this episode (and Jennifer) emphasized the importance of enjoying the time together that we have and always carrying our love for others in our hearts.

This was a sweet episode and well-acted by the entire cast.  As I’ve said, this is an uneven series but this was a truly good episode.