Late Night Retro Television Review: Check It Out! 2.19 “Only God Can Make A Tree”

Posted on November 9, 2024 by Lisa Marie Bowman

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 goes to jail!

Episode 2.19 “Only God Can Make A Tree”

(Dir by Alan Erlich, originally aired on March 1st, 1987)

Old George is coming down!

Who is Old George? Actually, it’s more a question of what is Old George? Old George is a tree that stands a few feet away from Cobb’s. Apparently, Howard spent a good deal of his youth hanging out around Old George. He and his father used to have picnics under Old George. He and his friends use to climb Old George. Howard decides that Old George must be saved so he organizes a protest. He forces Christian, Leslie, and Viker to join him in trying to keep the city contactors from chopping down the tree. As a result, Howard and his three employees are arrested and sent to jail.

(Can you sue if your boss forces you to do something that gets you arrested? It seems like you should be able to. Of course, I’m not really sure how the law works in Canada.)

In court, the four men decide that, instead of getting a lawyer to defend them, they’ll just let Howard be in charge of their defense. I guess they all want to go to jail. Edna brings Howard several law books but she brings them to the trial so Howard has to skim them while the arresting police officer (Bob Bainborough) gives his testimony. That seems counter-productive but whatever. The law books aren’t necessary because, instead of arguing the law, Howard just tells the judge how much the tree meant to him. Howard and his employees are set free by the judge (Jack Mather). Then Old George is promptly chopped down because it has Dutch Elm disease. So, it was all for nothing!

Because Howard’s Aunt Lil (Kay Tremblay) was visiting, we did learn a bit about Howard’s background. After his father died, Howard was raised by his aunt. He grew up in the same neighborhood where he works. All of his friends grew up to be doctors and lawyers and scientists while Howard grew up to manage a grocery store. He’s been living with Edna for seven years but doesn’t have any plans to marry her. Edna desperately wants to have grandchildren but again, Howard’s in no huray to get married …. you know, when you combine all of this with the tree ultimately dying, this is probably the most depressing episode of Check It Out ever shot.

This was a weird episode. While I can respect Howard’s desire to protect Old George, I can’t respect him requiring his employees to join with him in the protest. It’s also strange to me that they protested while they were still on the clock. Did the store just shut down while they were all sitting in jail? All of this seems like bad boss behavior to me. Jeff Pustil, Aaron Schwartz, Kathleen Laskey, and Gordon Clapp all managed to get in a few good lines but Don Adams himself seemed confused as to whether he should play Howard as being an earnest tree-lover or as just a pompous ass. That’s not really Adams’s fault. This show has never been particularly consistent in the way that Howard is portrayed.

That said, I would have tried to save Old George as well. From what I saw of him, he was an impressive tree.

Late Night Retro Television Review: Check It Out! 2.17 “Chain Reaction”

Posted on October 26, 2024 by Lisa Marie Bowman

This week, a wave of bad luck crashes into the store.

Episode 2.17 “Chain Reaction”

(Dir by Stan Jacobson, originally aired on February 15, 1987)

This is a bit of an odd episode.

For one thing, neither Jeff Pustil nor Gordon Clapp appear in this episode. As Pustil and Clapp were two of the more consistently funny performers on this show, their absence is definitely felt.

Since Pustil’s assistant manager character is said to be on vacation, Murray is temporarily promoted to assistant manager and spends this episode wearing a suit and making smarmy comments that are totally out-of-character for him.

There’s a new cashier named Amy (Kathryn Rose). We’ve never seen her before but everyone on the show acts as if she’s always been there.

This episode features everyone at a store getting a chain letter, which was an annoying thing where someone would send you a letter and tell you to send a copy of the letter to ten other people for good luck. (It’s the sort of thing that was apparently popular in the years before email.) Everyone at the store takes their chain letter seriously, except for Howard. Howard sets his chain letter on fire.

Immediately after Howard destroys the letter, ominous thunder rumbles. A fire breaks out in Howard’s office and Howard uses Edna’s sweater to put it out. A terrible smell spreads through the store, chasing away the customers and forcing the health department to order the place closed until it’s gone away. An old woman gets food poisoning from can of Pears and sues the store. Finally, Marlene tells Howard that this is all his fault, Howard insults Marlene’s hair, and Marlene quits.

Marlene is later in an accident and taken to the hospital. Howard and the gang (including the mysterious Amy) rush over to the hospital to check on Marlene. Howard goes in Marlene’s hospital room and finds a patient covered in bandages. Assuming the patient is Marlene, Howard calls her the daughter he never had and promises to rehire her and give her a raise. Surprise! The patient wasn’t Marlene but Marlene was standing behind Howard and listening the whole time.

It’s sweet but it’s also a reminder that Check It Out rarely made much effort to maintain a consistent continuity. Just a few episodes ago, Howard went undercover to save Marlene from a cult. In this episode, they act as if they’ve never had a good relationship.

This episode just feels off, to the extent that I wouldn’t have been surprised if it had ended with Howard waking up and realizing it was all a dream. The absence of Pustil and Clapp is strongly felt and the remaining characters don’t seem to be acting like themselves.

On the plus side, this episode features Marlene’s best hair yet.

Late Night Retro Television Review: Check It Out! 2.15 “Tots ‘R’ Us”

Posted on October 12, 2024 by Lisa Marie Bowman

This week, Edna has a good idea.

Episode 2.15 “Tots ‘R’ Us”

(DIr by J. Sumner, originally aired on February 1st, 1987)

I have no idea who J. Sumner was.

J. Sumner is credited as being the director of this episode. (Up until this episode, Alan Erlich was the show’s regular director.) I’ve never seen the name before and it struck me as being such an odd name to use that I actually looked the director up on the IMDb. According to the IMDb, this episode of Check It Out! is the only thing that J. Sumner has ever been credited as having been involved with. That’s quite an accomplishment, making your entertainment career debut as a director Most people have to work up to it.

I kind of suspect that J. Sumner is a pseudonym of some sort. Maybe the real director didn’t want to be credited for this episode, though there’s nothing about it that’s really all that different from any other episode of Check It Out. It’s not a terrible episode but it’s also not a particularly interesting one, which is why I’m wasting so much time speculating about the identity of J. Sumner.

The episode takes place on Canadian Mother’s Day. Edna decides to turn the back offices into a daycare so mothers can leave their children while they shop. That actually does sound like a good idea to me. Whenever I go grocery shopping, I always seem to get stuck in line behind people who have multiple hyperactive children. Just last week, this little brat stepped on my foot while running around the store and his mother didn’t even apologize to me. Seriously, I was limping for hours afterwards! I should have called the cops and pressed charges….

Anyway, all of the moms and their kids eventually leave. Except there’s one child (played by Benjamin Barrett) left behind. He wears a nametag that reads “Orphan” but a call to the local orphanage reveals that no one is missing. Edna calls the police but tells them that the store will take care of the kid and hold onto him until his parents arrive. The police apparently say, “Okay, thanks for letting us know,” and then never bother to come out to the store. That doesn’t sound like typical police procedure when it comes to an abandoned child but who knows? This is a Canadian show so maybe that’s the way they do it in Manitoba.

Edna pressures Howard into using a sock puppet to talk to the kid. The previously silent kid is happy to talk to Goober The Sock. The kid’s name is Freddy. He stays overnight at the store with Edna and, in a really sad scene, Edna asks Freddy if he knows anything about adoption. Edna’s dreams of taking Feddy into her home are ruined when Freddy’s father (Walker Boone) shows up. Howard gives Freddy and his father tickets to a baseball game. Awww, that was nice!

This was a pretty simple episode and, to be honest, it was kind of boring. Howard and Edna are more fun when they’re weird than when they’re nice. As always, Gordon Clapp (as Viker, the electrician) got a few funny lines and made the most of his limited screentime. Otherwise, this was a sweet-natured but not particularly enthralling episode.

And if J. Sumner is reading this, say hi in the comments! We’d love to hear from you!

Late Night Retro Television Review: Check It Out! 2.14 “Let’s Get Metaphysical”

Posted on October 5, 2024 by Lisa Marie Bowman

This week, Howard goes on a mission to save Marlene.

Episode 2.14 “Let’s Get Metaphysical”

(Dir by Alan Erlich, originally aired on January 25th, 1987)

Marlene’s been showing up late for work!

Christian thinks that it’s a big deal that Marlene isn’t showing up for work. I’ve never had a retail job or a job where I had a boss who required me to do things but I do have to say that I think Christian has a point. Since it appears that Cobb’s only has seven employees and it appears to be a rather large store with several different departments, I imagine it is a bit difficult when one of them doesn’t show up.

(Actually, two of them. For some reason, Edna is not in this episode.)

Howard, however, says it’s no big deal because Marlene is only late because she’s in love with a new guy and this guy apparently likes to stay up all night and discuss philosophy. (Bleh! Sounds like she’s dating a real bore.) But when Marlene starts lecturing at her register about how unfair it is to charge people for food, Christian feels that he has no choice but to fire her. Marlene thanks Christian for setting her free and then leaves the store for her new home at the local commune.

Uh-oh …. MARLENE HAS JOINED A CULT!

Wanting to free her from the Order of Eternal Light, Howard decides to go down to the commune. Accompanying him is Viker and I was happy about that because, as played by Gordon Clapp, Viker was a character who made any scene funnier by his very presence. The head of the cult is a bearded man who calls himself Solar (Sam Moses). Solar preaches a life of simplicity while living in a mansion and driving a Ferrari.

Howard decides that the best way to free Marlene is to go undercover and pretend to join the cult. Over the next few days, Howard doesn’t show up at work but Marlene does. Marlene explain that she left the cult after talking to a strange man with a beard. She also says that she never saw Howard at the cult.

Suddenly, Howard shows up, wearing love beads and speaking in an Indian accent. Marlene throws water on his face, which magically sets Howard free from Solar’s brainwashing. Marlene tells Howard that she left on her own after talking to the bearded man. Howard reveals that he was that bearded man….

Wow, it sounds like a lot of interesting stuff happened off-camera! In fact, that’s the main problem with this episode. Almost all of the interesting stuff — Marlene getting brainwashed, Howard going undercover, the police raiding the commune and arresting Solar — happens off-screen. What we’re left with is okay but never quite as funny as it potentially could be.

Still, at least Marlene’s back! Someone has to keep the sharp insults flying in that store and no one’s better at it than Marlene.

Late Night Retro Television Review: Check It Out 2.10 “Edna Displays Talent”

Posted on September 7, 2024 by Lisa Marie Bowman

After a two month break, it’s time to return to Canada’s favorite grocery store.

Episode 2.10 “Edna Displays Talent”

(Dir by Alan Ehrlich, originally aired on December 19th, 1986)

The tagline for the second season of Check It Out might as well, “Continuity: Who Needs It?”

After spending the previous few episodes as a hypercompetent manager and a great boyfriend, Howard is back to being an idiot in this week’s episode. Not only does he not appear to be capable of managing a lemonade stand (let alone a supermarket) but he is again so dense that he doesn’t realize that Edna is feeling stuck in a rut. Edna begs Howard to assign her the job of designing a display for a new barbecue sauce. Howard, of course, gives the job to Christian.

Christian has no idea what to do so he gets Edna to do it for him. Edna, recalling a romantic camping trip that she took with Howard when they first started dating, creates perhaps the ugliest display that I’ve ever seen. Seriously, look at this:

Not only it an eyesore but how is anyone going to be able to reach the front registers with all of that stuff sitting in the way? Plus, what exactly is the display for? It’s supposed to be for barbecue sauce but it looks like it’s for red tents and Styrofoam trees.

That said, Howard is really impressed by the display. He assumes that Christian is the one who did it. Even after Edna shames Christian into telling the truth, Howard continues to assume that Christian is the one who built the display. I’m not sure why Howard is so stupid in this episode but it certainly makes the company’s decision to fire him in the previous episode easier to understand.

Meanwhile, Murray is desperately trying to lose his virginity. When he asks Howard for advice, Howard tells him about the time he and Edna went on a romantic camping trip and …. suddenly, Howard recognizes the display! He apologizes to Edna and asks her to join him in the tent.

“In the store?” Edna says, surprised.

(Like, seriously, they’ve been together for seven years and they’ve never had sex in the store before?)

Uh-oh, turns out Murray’s busy losing his virginity in the tent. Sorry, Howard and Edna!

This episode was an odd one, in that it required Howard and Edna to behave in ways that went against everything that the show had previously established about their characters. But I laughed more than I thought I would. The truth of the matter is that Don Adams was always funnier when he played Howard as a buffoon than as a nice guy. As well, Jeff Pustil always makes me laugh as the cowardly but sneaky Jack Christian. Pustil was very good at making desperation funny and Christian is desperate for the majority of this episode.

Finally, check out Marlene’s hair this episode:

This episode was dumb but it made me laugh. That’s good enough for me.

Late Night Retro Television Review: Check It Out 2.9 “Don’t Take My Job Please”

Posted on July 6, 2024 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Well, it’s been over a month so I guess it’s time to get back to reviewing this show. I can’t really remember why I picked this show to review but whatever. Let’s see what’s happening in Canada.

Episode 2.9 “Don’t Take My Job Please”

(Dir by Alan Erlich, originally aired on December 12th, 1986)

It’s contract renegotiation time and Howard is convinced that his 12 years of loyal service and the fact that his store is making a lot of money will lead to him getting a raise. Instead, Corbin from Corporate (Grant Cowan) informs him that the company is letting him go.

Howard vanished, without even Edna knowing for sure where he’s gone. Jack Christian becomes the new manager and is soon putting pictures of himself up all over the store. However, when Christian’s “Buy One, Get One Free” sale leads to the store losing a huge amount of money, Corbin tells Christian that he’s fired …. unless, of course, he can track down Howard and convince him to take the manager’s job.

What? Is this how they do business in Canada? I understand firing Howard because the company didn’t want to give him a raise. I understand firing Christian because he lost a lot of money on a stupid promotion. But what type of company then begs the first fired guy to come back? Does Cobb’s not have any other potential store managers? Do they not have a management training program? This doesn’t sound like a well-managed company.

Of course, the problem with bring Howard back is that Howard has disappeared, with his last words to Edna being that he was struggling to find anyone willing to hire someone as old as him. (Howard says he’s 45. Don Adams was in his 60s when this show aired.) But then Christian takes everyone out to dinner at Musketeer, the Canadian version of Medieval Times, and guess who is dressed up like D’Artagnan and leading people to their tables? It’s Howard! Edna tells him that Cobb’s wants him to come back. Howard says this is the best news he’s ever heard.

Uhmm …. Howard, it’s obvious they don’t appreciate you and they’re probably just going to try to screw you over again. Tell ’em to kick rocks in Manitoba.

Anyway, that’s the episode. It didn’t really add up too much but that’s to be expected with Check It Out. This was one of those episodes where nothing made any sense but — to give credit where credit is due — the cast made the most of it, with Jeff Pustil, Kathleen Laskey, Aaron Schwartz, and Simon Reynolds all wringing laughs out of the most mild of dialogue. It’s too bad that the episodes were always so plot-heavy because Check It Out! worked best when it just lets everyone be strange.

Late Night Retro Television Review: Friday the 13th: The Series 2.6 “Master of Disguise”

Posted on June 28, 2024 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Welcome to Late Night Retro Television Reviews, a new feature where we review some of our favorite and least favorite shows of the past! On Fridays, I will be reviewing Friday the 13th: The Series, a show which ran in syndication from 1987 to 1990. The show can be found on YouTube!

The search for cursed antiques continues!

Episode 2.6 “Master of Disguise”

(Dir by Tom McLoughlin, originally aired on November 11th, 1988)

A side job delivering antiques for use in a horror film leads to Micki meeting her favorite actor, the amazingly handsome and charming William Pratt (John Bolger). And when the film’s leading lady refuses to shoot a scene because of Pratt’s method obsessiveness, Micki finds herself cast as her replacement. Soon, Pratt and Micki are having a torrid romance. Ryan feels that there’s something wrong with Pratt but then again, we all know that Ryan has unrequited romantic feelings for his cousin (ewwww!).

That said, Ryan is right. Pratt is actually Jeff Amory, an actor who was so disfigured that he was previously typecast in horror films. Amory disappeared after the murder of one of his co-stars, an actress who looked a lot like Micki. Using a cursed makeup box that once belonged to John Wilkes Booth (“the actor who shot Lincoln,” Ryan helpfully explains), Amory has transformed himself into the handsome Pratt. Unfortunately, the box needs to constantly absorb blood to work and Pratt has become a one-man murder spree. (One of his victims is played by Aaron Schwartz, of Check It Out! fame.) Will Micki become his next victim?

(An interesting piece of trivia: Booth is often described as just being “the actor who shot Lincoln,” but he was actually a legitimate star and a celebrity in both the North and the South in the years leading up to the Civil War. The youngest and best-looking of the Booth brothers, he was an acclaimed and popular Shakespearean actor who was so handsome that women would flock to the theater whenever one of his show’s came to town. He was the 19th century stage’s version of Ryan Reynolds. Everyone who was into theater knew his name, even before he shot Lincoln. America has seen many assassins who wanted to be celebrities. Booth was a celebrity who wanted to be an assassin.)

This was an okay episode. I liked the fact that Pratt was a bit more tormented by his actions than some of the other villains who have appeared on this show and I was also happy that Micki got to be at the center of the action, even if the episode’s script did make her a bit more flighty than she’s ever been previously portrayed. Ryan’s romantic feelings for Micki are a little bit awkward, seeing as how they’re related but, again, they were necessary to establish why Micki was originally dismissive of Ryan’s concerns.

This episode ended with a bit of trivia, with Jack mentioning that William Pratt was also the real name of one of the gentlest men in show business …. Boris Karloff. Again, you have to wonder why no one else noticed that is before Jack and why it took Jack so long to mention it. Still, it’s nice that Karloff got a shout out.

Mini Late Night Retro Television Review: Check It Out! 2.8 “Homewrecker Howard”

Posted on May 25, 2024 by Lisa Marie Bowman

I sprained my wrist earlier this week and, as a result, typing is a bit painful. So, for this week and this week only, I’m doing quick, mini-reviews that will hopefully get my point across without requiring too much discomfort on my part. Luckily, this is a format that works just fine when one is discussing a show like Check It Out!

Episode 2.8 “Homewrecker Howard”

(Dir by Alan Erlich, originally aired on November 21st, 1986)

This was just dumb.

Jack Christian is dating a woman (Randall Carpenter) who he met at the store. He’s also lying to her, telling her that he’s the store manager. The woman happens to be married and she’s also a friend of Edna’s. After the woman tells Edna that she’s getting back at her unfaithful husband by having an affair with the manager of the store, Edna assumes that Howard is cheating on her.

I’ve often said that I hate idiot plots. An idiot plot is any story where every complication could be prevented by the characters 1) not being complete idiots and 2) actually asking each other detailed questions and getting an answer before jumping to conclusions. This episode was a classic example of the idiot plot. Edna doesn’t tell Howard why she’s mad at him and Howard doesn’t bother to ask. Things don’t get straightened out until the woman’s husband (Tom Butler) shows up at the store and announces that he wants to beat up the manager.

Will this show ever figure out who Howard Bannister is supposed to be? Sometimes, he’s a great manager who cares about his employees. In this episode, he’s a pompous windbag who puts a cardboard cut-out of himself on the salesfloor. Sometimes, Howard is the world’s best and most romantic boyfriend. In this episode, he’s so clueless that he barely notices that Edna is angry at him and Edna, it must be said, has no problem believing that he would be unfaithful. Edna both lives and works with Howard so when exactly is he ever out of her sight long enough to have the wild affair that the woman describes herself as having?

As I said …. IDIOT PLOT!

Late Night Retro Television Review: Check It Out! 2.7 “A Chocolate Chip Off The Old Block”

Posted on May 18, 2024 by Lisa Marie Bowman

This week, Cobb’s needs cookies!

Episode 2.7 “A Chocolate Chip Off The Old Block”

(Dir by Alan Erlich, originally aired on November 14th, 1986)

Strange episode.

When a homeless woman named Gert (Lynne Gorman) starts hanging out in the store’s parking lot, Howard’s first instinct is to force her to go away. He’s especially annoyed when Gert starts sleeping in his parking space. However, Edna takes sympathy on Gert and practically adopts her. It turns out that Gert makes the best cookies that anyone has ever tasted!

That’s good news because Grandpa Morgan’s Cookies can no longer be sold in Cobb’s because the company has signed an exclusive contract with Flechman’s Grocery Store. Jeremy Corbyn (Grant Cowan), who works at the head office and who is a real jerk, is looking for a scapegoat and Howard seems like a likely target. But then Howard decides to start selling Grandma Gert’s Cookies in the store. When it comes time to sign Gert to an exclusive contract, Gert’s business manager, who happens to be the store’s assistant manager, Jack Christian, drives a hard bargain. Gert being managed by someone who works for the people who want to sign her to an exclusive contract sounds like a massive conflict of interest but it doesn’t matter because Gert has disappeared.

Desperate to sell cookies, Howard dresses up like a carnival barker and tries to get the customers interested in Uncle Howie’s Cookies. A homeless man named Lester (Warren Van Evera) interrupts Howard’s presentation to tell him that Gert died. It turns out that Gert was a millionaire and she left her money to not only her friends at the shelter but also to several charities. Lester hands Howard an envelope from Gert. Howard is excited because he thinks Gert left him money. Edna opens the envelope and reveals that Gert left him a cheap ring as a symbol of friendship.

Disappointed, Howard returns to trying to get people to buy Uncle Howie’s cookies and the episode ends.

Seriously, what a strange episode. After all the panic over the cookies, the episode ends without a resolution. The recipe for Gert’s cookies dies with her and I guess Cobb’s is just not going to be able to sell cookies. (Seriously, though, what type of store only sells one brand of cookies? What type of cookie company would only want their product to be sold in one store?) As well, this was another episode where Howard behaved in a way that totally went against what we’ve previously seen of the character. This show has never seemed to be sure whether or not Howard is supposed to be a well-meaning, somewhat hapless manager or if he’s meant to be an arrogant buffoon. This episode finds him in buffoon mode and his callous and greedy reaction to Gert’s death feels totally wrong.

It’s probably best to just move on from this episode and pretend like it didn’t happen. So, let do just that.

Late Night Retro Television Review: Check It Out! 2.6 “The Bear Facts”

Posted on May 11, 2024 by Lisa Marie Bowman

This week, Howard helps Murray master the bush.

Episode 2.6 “The Bear Facts”

(Dir by Alan Erlich, originally aired on November 7th, 1986)

Murray, the teenage stockboy played by Simon Reynolds, has a problem.

He’s in the Scouts. He promised his father that he would not leave the Scouts until he earned all of the badges. He only has one badge left …. the *snicker* Bushmaster Badge. In order to get *cough* Bushmaster Badge, he has to go camping with his father. However, Murray’s father is in the Merchant Marine and is far from home. Hey — maybe Howard could go camping with Murray and help him become a *chortle* Bushmaster!

Since Howard is actually being a nice guy in this episode, he agrees. (As I’ve mentioned many times in the past, this show is incredibly inconsistent when it comes to how Howard is portrayed. Sometimes, he’s a saint. Sometimes, he’s the boss from Hell.) Howard even puts on a scout uniform. While camping, Murray talks about how his parents split up 12 years ago but that he still hopes that they’ll get back together. (Awwww!) Howard admits that he has never asked Edna to marry him because he worries that it would end in divorce. Howard and Murray bond and you know what? It’s actually kind of sweet. Simon Reynolds is actually rather touching as the naive Murray while Don Adams, in the role of Howard, actually stops yelling long enough for us to see that Howard is a sensitive guy underneath all the bluster….

Of course, then a bear shows up and eats Murray.

Or maybe not. Howard sees the bear and he runs away, just to later realize that Murray didn’t run away with him. Howard assumes that Murray has been eaten. Instead of calling the police or Murray’s mother, Howard goes back to the store and tells Edna, Christian, and Leslie about what happened. No one seems to be that upset about Murray being devoured and that’s kind of sad.

Suddenly, Murray’s scoutmaster (Diane Douglass) shows up and says that she personally wants to give Murray his *ahem* Bushmaster Badge. Howard explains that Murray was possibly eaten by a bear. The scoutmaster is about to form a search party when suddenly, Murray shows up. It turns out he wasn’t eaten after all. The bear was really nice and Murray was not only able to escape but also make it through the untrimmed wilderness on his own. Everyone agrees that Murray has truly proven himself to be a master of the bush. Murray gets his final badge and, as a result, he can finally stop wearing his uniform. Yay!

This was a weird episode. It started out as very sincere and heartfelt and then it suddenly devolved into a bunch of jokes about a lonely teenage boy being eaten by a bear. I have to admit that I kind of dug this episode, precisely because it was so odd. The best episodes of Check It Out! are usually the ones where the show gets unapologetically weird and this one did just that.

Hopefully, next week will be even stranger.