Late Night Retro Television Review: Check It Out 3.6 “Edna’s Choice”

Posted on February 1, 2025 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’s dead! Or maybe not.

Episode 3.6 “Edna’s Choice”

(Dir by Alan Erlich, originally aired on October 24th, 1987)

This week’s episode opens with a rather odd scene in which Howard Bannister, who is still wearing his “Howie” manager uniform, showing up outside the gates of Heaven. He’s shocked to find that Edna is waiting for him. She has big wings on her back. She says that she was made an angel when she came to Heaven because she lived a perfect life after she broke up with Howard. Howard is surprised. Edna mentions that she broke up with Howard because he refused to recommend her for a promotion that would have given her a store of her own to manage. Howard refers to God as being a guy. Edna replies that God is a woman and then sends Howard to hell.

WHAT!?

With this scene, the show establishes that 1) Edna and Howard broke up, 2) Edna died before Howard, and 3) Howard went to Hell. That’s a lot to take in!

Of course, it all turns out to be a dream that Edna was having. Edna tells Marlene about her dream and then she doesn’t mention it again for the rest of the episode. This is despite the fact that Edna receives a chance to be promoted and Howard doesn’t recommend her for the job. You would think that Edna would link all of this to her dream and maybe warn Howard that he was condemning his soul to the fires of Hell. Maybe she forgot about her dream. These things happen occasionally. I sometimes forget about my dreams, too!

It’s between Jack Christian and Edna for the new store manager job and, in a very odd scene, Mrs. Schutlz (Barbara Gordon) interviews them both at the same time. (Oddly, everyone at the store acts as if they all know Mrs. Schultz, despite this being her first appearance on the show.) Edna notices that all of the questions appear to be biased against Christian. Mrs. Schultz asks what they would do if a customer came in the store wearing the same dress as them. Mrs. Schultz asks Christian what he would do if a customer was having PMS. (“What’s PMS?” Christian asks and sweetie, you don’t want to know.) Edna realizes that Gordon is only interested in giving the job to another woman so Edna turns down the promotion. She wants to earn the job on her merits and nothing else. And she doesn’t break up with Howard so I guess he still has a chance to getting into Heaven.

This episode was weird. The dream sequence was actually pretty funny and Gordon Clapp scored a few laughs as the store’s dim-witted electrician. That said, the whole job interview storyline felt strange. Admittedly, I’ve never had to actually interview for any of the jobs that I’ve had but still, I just imagine it’s handled a bit differently than in this episode. It was a weird episode. Edna should have taken that job and ran with it.

Late Night Retro Television Review: Check It Out! 3.5 “Not For Commercial Use”

Posted on January 25, 2025 by Lisa Marie Bowman

This week, the news comes to Cobb’s!

Episode 3.5 “Not For Commercial Use”

(Dir by Alan Erlich, originally aired on October 18th, 1987)

The local news station is coming down to Cobb’s to do a story on how things have changed at the store now that the company is under new management.

Really?

Is it just a super slow news day or something? The insinuation is that it’s actually going to be a 30-minute news special, all about an obscure grocery store in the suburbs of Ontario. (In this episode, Check It Out! finally admits that the show is taking place in Canada.) I mean, even if it is a slow news day, I just can’t imagine that a thirty-minute story about Cobb’s would be a huge ratings grabber.

Howard is excited about the idea of being on television. He calls his Aunt Lil and promises to tug on his ear so that she’ll know that he’s thinking of her. Howard imagines himself as a TV star. There’s Howard hosting a talk show! There’s Howard as a tough detective. It’s all kind of silly but, in its way, kind of cute. Howard is a lot more likable this season than he was during the previous two seasons. And Don Adams, who can sometimes seem a bit indifferent when it comes to playing Howard, actually gave a lively performance in this episode.

TC Collingwood (Elizabeth Hanna), who I guess is supposed to be the liaison between the store and the corporate offices, does not want Howard to appear on TV. She feels that Howard is a bit too …. I guess “dorky” would be the right term to use here. She thinks that Howard is going to embarrass the store with his bad jokes and his Bogart impersonation. TC would rather focus on employees like Leslie, who now wears a chef’s hat and who has apparently transferred from working as a cashier to working in the deli.

(One thing that I’ve noticed is that, during season 3, the show finally hired enough extras to make the store seem like a real place. There are now employees and shoppers all over the place. Marlene is no longer the only cashier and Leslie appears to have a good crew working with him at the deli)

As for Howard, he does manage to get on television. He simply cannot be stopped! He wanders in front of the camera. He tells bad jokes. He does even worse impersonations. TC ends up locking him in a meat locker but it turns out that the CEO of the company really enjoyed Howard and his antics. Good for Howard, I guess.

This episode continued this season’s pattern of being far better than the two that came before it. For once, every member of the cast was allowed a chance to shine. This episode was worth watching for Viker’s attempt to tell a knock knock joke alone. Check It Out! was a deeply silly show but at least in the third season it’s finally got consistently funny.

Late Night Retro Television Review: Check It Out! 3.4 “I’m Okay, You’re A Spy”

Posted on January 18, 2025 by Lisa Marie Bowman

This week, Howard’s paranoid and with good reason! They are all out to get him….

Episode 3.4 “I’m Okay, You’re A Spy”

(Dir by Alan Erlich, originally aired on October 17th, 1987)

After the new stockboy, 12 year-old Brad (played by T and T‘s Sean Roberge), shows Howard a newspaper article about how the company that purchased Cobb’s has been sending corporate spies into its stores to evaluate management, Howard gets extremely paranoid. He becomes convinced that there must be a spy in the store. He gathers Brad, Leslie, Christian, Viker, and Marlene into the stockroom and asks them if they’ve noticed anyone strange in the store. He also suggests that any one of them could possibly be the spy.

Or maybe — just maybe — the spy is the new butcher who keeps asking Howard all sorts of questions about the other employees. He would seem to be the most likely suspect and we know it’s him because the episode opens with him getting his assignment and talking about how he can’t wait to get Howard Bannister fired. Howard, of course, is so paranoid about the possibility of there being a spy in the store that he expresses all of his fears and frustrations to the spy. In other words, this is yet another episode episode where Howard is a complete moron. The previous season was split evenly between episodes where Howard was competent and episodes where Howard was an idiot. The episodes featuring stupid Howard were always funnier than the episodes featuring smart Howard so I think the showrunners made the right decision to focus o Howard’s stupidity in the third season. No one wants to watch a show about a good boss. What fun is that?

(It’s kind of like how we loved The Office when it was all about Michael screwing up but, when it became about new boss Andy proving himself, we all tuned out.)

It turns out that not everyone at the new corporation is supportive of the whole spy thing. T.C. Collingwood comes to the store and informs Howard that his butcher is the spy. Howard replies by giving the spy a lot of work to do. I guess that’s one way to handle it but it doesn’t change the fact that Howard told the spy that everyone at the store was incompetent and should be fired. This episode makes less and less sense the more that I think about it. Can’t corporate just look at whether or not the store had made any money and use that to determine whether or not Howard’s doing a good enough job? This episode didn’t make much sense.

Incidentally, Edna was on vacation during this episode. How many vacation does Edna get in the year? It seems like she’s never at the store. I have a feeling that Howard is going to run off with T.C. Collingwood at some point in the new future. Maybe that’s for the best. At least then Edna wouln’t have to flee to Florida every month.

Next week …. Howard wants to be a TV star! We’ll see what happens.

Late Night Retro Television Review: Check It Out 3.3 “Puppy Love”

Posted on January 11, 2025 by Lisa Marie Bowman

This week, some new guy shows up.

Episode 3.3 “Puppy Love”

(Dir by Alan Erlich, originally aired on October 11th, 1987)

Derek has a crush on–

WHO!?

This episode introduces a brand new character named Derek (played by Andrew Miller). He’s a shy teenager who works in the store, cleaning the floors and occasionally bagging groceries. We’ve never seen him before but the show acts as if he’s always been around. At one point, he talks to Howard about how much he’s always admired him and Howard acts as if he’s known Derek for years. Derek has quite a bit in common with Murray, who Simon Reynolds played during the first two seasons of the show. To be honest, it wouldn’t surprise me if this episode’s story was originally envisioned as being a Murray episode before Reynolds left the show.

Anyway, Derek has a crush on Marlene. The episode opens with him having an extended fantasy about waking up with Marlene in his house. It’s mostly notable because 1) this is the first time that we’ve ever seen Derek and 2) it’s one of the few times that Check It Out has ever utilized a set other than the grocery store. Feeling too shy to actually ask her out in person, Derek decides to start leaving Marlene anonymous notes. Marlene is excited because she thinks that the notes are being written by a handsome customer (Page Fletcher) who always flirts with her.

When one note asks her to dinner, Marlene goes to a nice restaurant and expects to see the customer. Instead, Derek’s there to meet her. Still not realizing that Derek is the one who sent her the notes and convinced that she’s been stood up, Marlene makes a joke about Derek being too young for her. Derek’s heart is broken! Then again, Derek is only sixteen so, seriously, he is way too young for Marlene. In fact, what’s he even doing at a restaurant by himself? Where are your parents, Derek!?

In the end, it all works out. Marlene discovers that Derek was the one sending her the notes and she apologizes for breaking his heart. Meanwhile, the handsome customer comes by the store and asks Marlene out. Yay! Marlene is the character to whom I relate so I’m glad when good things happen to her. Though, now that I think about it, Page Fletcher was the host of that Hitchhiker show where he was always showing up right before something terrible happened to someone. Be careful, Marlene!

This episode was okay. Marlene is one of the best characters on the show and Kathleen Laskey can get laughs out of even the lamest of one-liners so the episodes that center around her are usually better than the ones that don’t. The only real problem with this episode is that it requires us to suddenly care about Derek, despite the fact that we have no idea who he is. But, then again, that’s Check it Out for you. The important thing is that this episode continued season 3’s steak of being more consistently funny than season 2.

Late Night Retro Television Review: Check It Out 3.2 “Hey, Take Me Over”

Posted on January 4, 2025 by Lisa Marie Bowman

This week, Howard continues to dream of a better job. Good luck with that, Howard.

Episode 3.2 “Hey, Take Me Over”

(Dir by Alan Erlich, originally aired on October 10th, 1987)

Cobb’s has been sold! Because the new owner is a huge corporation that owns several luxury resorts, Howard convinces himself that he’s going to be promoted to running a hotel in Tahiti. (Howard’s background in hotel management has been one of the few consistent things in Check It Out.) Instead, corporate vice president T.C. Collingwood (Elizabeth Hanna) comes down to the store and tells Howard that he needs to start wearing a smock that says “Howie, Store Manager” on it.

Howard does what any reasonably immature, 50ish man would do. He quits. But then Edna explains that Howard will lose his pension if he quits so Howard decides that maybe wearing the smock won’t be so bad. “You’re throwing away your future,” Edna says at one point, as if Howard isn’t clearly approaching the age when most people retire.

This episode really drove home one of the biggest issues with Check It Out!, which is that Howard was written to be an ambitious man in his 40s but he was played by Don Adams who, when the show began, was already in his 60s. Now, it should be admitted that Adams looked about ten years younger than his actual age but still, Howard comes across as a bit too old to still be fantasizing about suddenly changing careers. There’s a principle that everyone rises to their level of incompetence. They keep getting promoted until they reach a job they can’t do and then, they get stuck there. Howard’s level of incompetence appears to be working as a general manager of a grocery store.

Howard eventually does put on the smock and agrees to keep working at his job. What’s odd about this is that Howard was already wearing the smock during the previous episode. Obviously, the episodes that made up the final season of Check It Out! were not aired in their intended order.

For all of the flaws to be found in this episode, it was still better than the majority of the second season. It would appear that, with season 3, the show’s producers and writers finally settled on Howard being an incompetent manager and the store being a mess. That’s definitely the right way to go. When it comes to workplace sitcoms, incompetence is always funnier than hypercompetence. (Just consider the U.S. version of The Office, in which the funniest episodes featured the office in chaos and the cringiest episodes were always the ones the centered on how good Jim was at selling paper.) No one respects Howard and Howard has no idea how to do his job. That’s a lot funnier than whatever the second season was trying to do.

Finally, I should mention that T and T‘s Sean Roberge has a small role in this one, playing the new bagboy. If I’ve learned anything from doing these retro television reviews, it’s that, in the late 80s, syndicated Canadian television shows really did seem to share the same small pool of actors.

Late Night Retro Television Review: Check It Out 3.1 “The Umpire Strikes Out”

Posted on December 14, 2024 by Lisa Marie Bowman

This week, we begin the third and final season of Check It Out!

Episode 3.1 “The Umpire Strikes Out”

(Dir by Alan Erlich, originally aired on October 4th, 1987)

Marlene is nervous because her father, Charlie (Michael Donaghue), is coming to visit. Charlie is professional baseball umpire and Marlene has always had a strained relationship with him. She feels that Charlie always wanted a son and that he resented her for not being into sports. After Edna allows Marlene to use her apartment to throw a small party for Charlie, Marlene suddenly starts dressing conservatively and her childhood stutter returns. She also stops dying her hair.

Agck! Poor Marlene! I could very much relate to her in this episode, largely because I had a pretty bad stutter up until I was 12 and sometimes it still kicks in if I haven’t gotten enough rest. Fortunately, Charlie does eventually realize that he was always too hard on Marlene and they agree to work on their relationship. Yay!

Meanwhile, Leslie’s feeling insecure about his age so he tries to wear a wig. It’s not a very good wig. It’s a pretty simple and obvious joke but Aaron Schwartz did a really good job selling it. Both Aaron Schwartz and Kathleen Laskey were capable of getting laughs out of the mildest of jokes and they both got a chance to show off their abilities in this episode.

This was the first episode of Check It Out!‘s third season and, from the start, it is obvious that some changes were made after the end of the previous season. Simon Reynolds is no longer in the cast, which is a shame because Reynolds was a good actor but it’s also somewhat realistic as Reynolds was playing a high school kid who, presumably, moved on to better things (like college). Whereas Howard always wore a suit during the second season, his work attire is now a dorky smock that is labeled “Howie, Store Manager.” Howard’s office now overlooks the salesfloor and, in this episode, there were enough extras in the background to convince me that Cobb’s was an actual grocery store as opposed to just a soundstage. I don’t know if this is going to be a permanent change or not but Howard was a bit less silly and more of a manager in this episode. It felt like a change for the better.

Believe it or not, this was actually a pretty good episode. Especially when compared to some season 2’s lesser episodes, the third season premiere was consistently funny and well-acted and the story actually made sense. Is this a fluke or did Check It Out! finally get itself together during the final season?

We’ll find out in 2025! Due to the holidays, this is my final Check It Out! review for 2024. These reviews will return on January 4th.

Late Night Retro Television Review: Check It Out! 2.22 “Put Your Best Face Forward”

Posted on December 7, 2024 by Lisa Marie Bowman

This week, season two of this show finally comes to an end.

Episode 2.22 “Put Your Best Face Forward”

(Dir by Alan Erlich, originally aired on March 22nd, 1987)

The second season of Check It Out! ends by revealing a little bit more about the origin story of Howard Bannister.

Howard’s stint at hotel management school has been mentioned several times throughout the series. In this episode, he is upset because his reunion is coming up and he’s the only members of his graduating class to have not made a success of himself. One of his classmates owns several motels. Another manages a popular bed and breakfast. Lester Pinkus (Alan Jordan) has had the most success of all. He is the manager of a 5-star luxury hotel. Meanwhile, Howard is just the manager of a small grocery store in Canada.

Howard explains to Edna that he was always at the top of his class but somehow, he flunked the final exam. Lester, who was previously always at the bottom of the class, got the highest score on his final and received a great job right out of school. With the reunion coming up, Howard is feeling inadequate. When he sees that Lester still looks young and happy, Howard decides to take Lester’s advice and get a facelift.

Or, at least, that’s Howard’s plan until he actually meets the doctor (Jack Northmore) and learns what a facelift entails. The doctor explains he’ll be peeling back Howard’s entire face and then breaking his nose. Agck! Howard faints and goes to his reunion with a black eye.

(For the record, there was a time when I was determined to get a nose job but then I considered that I had inherited my nose from my mom and it would be disrespectful to do anything to it. Big Nose Crew forever!)

At the reunion, Lester accepts an award for all of his success. He then announces that he doesn’t feel like he can accept the award because he cheated on the final. He stole Howard’s exam paper, put his name on it, and turned it in as his own. As such, Howard was actually the one who got the best score on the exam while Lester was the one who should have flunked. Lester says that he’s happy now because he’s rich, successful, and has a newly cleared conscience.

I have to admit that made me laugh. Howard’s life sucks and it’s all because of Lester. Lester’s girlfriend throws champagne in his face and then leaves him. Howard thanks Lester’s girlfriend so Edna throws champagne in Howard’s face and season two comes to an end.

What a strange show. Edna learns why Howard is so miserable and instead of offering him any sympathy over the fact that he’s doomed to spend the rest of his life as a grocery store manager, she throws champagne at him and accuses him of cheating. Howard can’t win but that’s okay because Howard really isn’t that likable of a character.

Season two was …. well, yes, it was inconsistent and frequently downright bad. But the show occasionally showed some sparks of life, usually when the focus was on the supporting cast. Jeff Pustil, Kathleen Laskey, Aaron Schwartz, and especially Gordon Clapp were able to generate some laughs, even from the weakest of material. The season season suffered because Howard’s personality seemed to change from episode-to-episode. It’s hard to root for a guy who doesn’t behave in a consistent manner.

Will the third and final season be an improvement? We’ll start finding out next week!

Late Night Retro Television Review: Check It Out! 2.20 “The Son Also Rises”

Posted on November 16, 2024 by Lisa Marie Bowman

I don’t even know where to start this week.

Episode 2.20 “The Son Also Rises”

(Dir by Stuart Gillard, originally aired on March 8th, 1987)

For what seems like the 100th time since I started watching the second season of this show, Edna is going on vacation. Technically, she’s going to be taking a computer course but everyone refers to it as being a vacation. Not that it matters because, knowing this show, we’ll never hear another word about this class that Edna is taking or the promotion that she’s hoping to get.

No sooner has Edna left then Howard’s ex-girlfriend, Molly Maguire (Diana Barrington), shows up. As Howard explains it to his employees (though why they would care, I have no idea), Molly was the great love of Howard’s life when he was in college and studying hotel management. (We often hear about all of these wonderful things that Howard did in the past, which leads me to wonder why, in his mid-50s, he’s just the manager of a middling grocery store in Canada.) Howard is excited to reconnect with Molly. It’s hard not to notice that, for all the episodes that have portrayed Howard as being the perfect boyfriend, he always tries to hook up with someone else whenever Edna is out of town. Oddly, it appears that none of her friends at the store have ever told Edna that Howard isn’t particularly faithful when she’s away.

(Remember when Howard threw a snit fit over Edna having dinner with her ex-husband? Seems kind of hypocritical, no?)

Howard’s plan to hook up with Molly is to invite her over to his apartment and to have Viker dress up like a butler in order to fool her into thinking that he’s rich. However, when Molly shows up, she reveals that she doesn’t want to rekindle any sort of romance with Howard. Instead, she wants Howard to give her child support because, according to Molly, he’s the father of her “teenage” son, Mickey (Keith Knight).

(Teenage is in quotes because, despite everything that Howard and Molly say to the contrary, Mickey is clearly not a teenager. Actor Keith Knight, who appeared in a number of classic Canadian films including My Bloody Valentine and Class of 1984, was 31 years old when he appeared in this episode.)

Howard and Mickey bond. Mickey turns out to be a pretty nice and intelligent “kid” and Howard starts to think that maybe he would like to be a father. (Good luck explaining any of this to Edna, Howard.) Howard worries about paying child support. Leslie the cashier offers to loan him the money. (What?) But then Molly shows up and reveals that — ha ha! — Howard’s not Mickey’s father after all. She just said that to get some money from Howard but since Howard obviously doesn’t have any money, never mind.

Well, that was …. interesting. Seriously, what a weird episode. Howard’s a jerk and, after bonding with 30-something Mickey, he discovers that he’s not Mickey’s father. Edna comes back from her trip and asks Howard if anything happened while she was gone. Howard says he doesn’t know where to start. Roll credits! There have been many inconsequential episodes of Check It Out! but none as inconsequential as this.

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

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 2.18 “My Girl Friday, Saturday, Sunday”

Posted on November 2, 2024 by Lisa Marie Bowman

This week, Howard runs afoul the mob. Don’t worry, it’s only the Canadian mob.

Episode 2.18 “My Girl Friday Saturday Sunday”

(Dir by Alan Erlich, originally aired on February 22nd, 1987)

While taking Edna to the airport (and seriously, how many vacations does Edna take during the year?), Howard is the victim of a hit-and-run. Another car literally takes off Howard’s driver’s side door. Howard is determined to find out who was driving the car and make them pay for his door.

After Marlene puts signs up around the airport asking if anyone witnessed the accident, Howard learns that the other car belonged to Canadian gangster Meatloaf Rothko (Chuck Shamata) and it was being driven by his mistress, Jerri (Heather Smith). Of course, Meatloaf already knows whose car Jerri hit and, in fact, he’s arranged for Jerri to get a job as Edna’s temporary replacement at Cobb’s.

Meatloaf requests that Howard meet with him at an Italian restaurant. Howard is hesitant but finally agrees to not only meet with him but to wear a wire. But, it turns out that Meatloaf is actually a nice guy who is willing to give Howard $10,000 to keep quiet about the accident. So, in other words, there really wasn’t much point to any of this.

As you probably already guessed, the plot of this episode was dumb. As I’ve often commented in the past, Check It Out has never been able to figure out who Howard Bannister is supposed to be. Sometimes, he’s the best boyfriend in the world and a respected father figure to all of his employees. This week, however, his employees are back to having no respect for him and Howard starts to hit on Jerri as soon as she shows up in the store. (Sorry, Edna, I hope going on your tenth vacation of the season was worth it.) Sometimes, Howard is a brilliant guy who always tries to do the right thing. This episode, he’s back to being a coward who has to be pressured into standing up for himself. Considering that the episodes in which Howard is a good boss are a hundred times better than the ones where he’s a total jackass, it’s a bit annoying that the jackass version of Howard seems to be the one who shows up the most.

On the plus side, this episode featured a lot of funny bits from the show’s supporting cast. Kathleen Laskey, Jeff Pustil, and Gordon Clapp all got in a few good one-liners. Of course, it helps that Laskey, Pustil, and Clapp all play characters who behave in a consistent manner. Jeff Pustil’s Jack Christian is always going to be smarmy in an oddly likable way. Gordon Clapp’s Viker is always going to be earnestly dumb. Kathleen Laskey’s Marlene is always going to be a sarcastic agent of chaos. Their characters have been consistent since the show started and, as a result, a lot of the humor comes from knowing how they’re going to react to certain situations. I will sit through an entire episode just to hear Marlene’s sarcastic response to whatever plan Christian comes up with. They’re funny characters.

So, my feelings about this episode were mixed. The story was incredibly dumb and Howard was incredibly annoying. But the employees of Cobb’s made me smile more than once. This episode wasn’t particularly memorable but it amused me. I’ve learned that’s the best one can hope for with this show.