Late Night Retro Television Review: Check It Out! 2.16 “The Oddest Couple”

Posted on October 19, 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, Viker needs help!

Episode 2.16 “The Oddest Couple”

(Dir by Alan Erlich, originally aired on February 8th, 1987)

Viker has been kicked out by his wife, Mrs. Viker (Laura Henry). Mrs. Viker apparently doesn’t have a first name. Even Viker calls her “Mrs. Viker” whenever he talks to her. Because he has been kicked out of his house, Viker has started sleeping on Howard’s couch.

Howard tells Viker that he can’t sleep on his couch, which just leaves Viker with one other option. He moves in with Howard! Normally, I’d wonder how Edna would feel about this but Edna is not in this episode. In fact, there’s no mention of Howard being involved and his apartment suddenly looks like a tacky bachelor pad. He even has a round bed in the living room.

As you can guess by the episode’s title, Howard and Viker make for an odd couple. It’s not a case of one of them being a neat freak and one of them being a slob. In fact, they’re both pretty neat. It’s just that Viker can be a little weird. He gargles extremely loudly. He takes everything that he hears literally. He spends a lot of time talking about his bunions.

Howard attempts to bring Viker and Mrs. Viker together but, when Mrs. Viker catches Viker teaching Marlene how to dance (more about that in a minute) in the store’s aisles, she declares that she can’t trust Viker. But then Howard invites Mrs. Viker to his apartment, where he has prepared a romantic dinner for the Vikers. That’s all it takes for the Vikers to fall back in love and apparently have sex in Howard’s living room bed while Howard waits in the hallway outside.

Why is Viker teaching Marlene how to dance? Because a good-looking customer named Philip (Richard Hardacre) has asked Marlene to come to his country club! Marlene gets all dressed up, does her hair nicely, and looks forward to her date. But then Richard shows up looking like he’s the bassist in Sex Pistols cover band. Richard says that it’s “punk night” at the country club and he wanted to impress his friends by bringing “an actual punk.” Realizing that she was being used, Marlene tells Richard to get lost and then she, Murray, and Christian go out for pizza. Awww! Since this show usually features those three characters at odds, it’s kind of nice to see them all going out as friends in this episode.

(In real life, Kathleen Laskey, who plays Marlene, is married to Jeff Pustil, who played Christian. Even though their characters are usually rivals, the chemistry between the two performers is obvious.)

This was an okay episode. It made me chuckle a few times. It’s obvious that, after the first half of the second season, the showrunners realized that Don Adams and Gordon Clapp made a great comic team. Check It Out is a show that works best when it embraces absurdity and few characters are more absurd than Gordon Clapp’s Viker.

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! 2.13 “Love and Marriage”

Posted on September 28, 2024 by Lisa Marie Bowman

This week, Howard is the world’s worst boyfriend …. again!

Episode 2.13 “Love and Marriage”

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

As I’ve said in the past, Check It Out! has never been very consistent when it comes to portraying Howard and Edna’s relationship. Sometimes, Howard is the perfect boyfriend, a romantic bon vivant who always knows the right thing to say. Then, other times, Howard is a complete idiot.

This episode finds Howard in idiot mode. He forgets Edna’s birthday and even admits that the cheap flowers that he sends Edna are the result of him asking the florist to remember Edna’s birthday so Howard wouldn’t have to worry about it. While Edna is definitely (and rightly) annoyed with Howard, she does receive some very beautiful flowers from a man named George Zuckerman.

Edna tells a jealous Howard that George was her boyfriend when she was a teenager. She says it’s been forever since she last saw George but George has invited her to have dinner with him at a fancy French restaurant. Of course, Howard follows Edna to the restaurant, where he gets on the nerves of the snooty maître d’ (Louis Negin, who gets the episode’s best lines) and he also meets George (Doug Paulson).

George is handsome, charming, rich, and Edna’s ex-husband. Howard is shocked the learn that Edna was married before but Edna explains that she was only seventeen and her father made them annul the marriage after two weeks. That still seems like a strange thing to have never mentioned in the past. Edna and Howard have been dating for seven years, after all.

While Howard fumes with jealousy, George says he has something he needs to ask Edna. Before he can ask, Howard throws a fit when his credit card is declined. (“It has a $150 credit limit!” Howard snaps. “The soup alone costs $150,” the maître d’ replies.)

Later, at the store, Marlene encourages Edna to marry George. Edna says that she can’t marry George because she loves Howard. Uhmm….Edna? George is handsome and rich. Howard runs a failing supermarket and forgot your birthday. Not that it matters because George isn’t interested in marrying Edna. Instead, he reveals that the annulment was never filed so he needs Edna to sign some divorce papers. Edna agrees and then looks forward to having a romantic dinner with Howard.

This episode had some funny moments, mostly due to the work of Louis Negin and Gordon Clapp, who returns as Viker and delivers his lines with such a hilariously sincere stupidity that he elevates the entire show. Viker reveals that he’s a tailor in this episode and he even makes Howard a suit. Howard later wears the suit to the restaurant and, every time he moves, the suit tears just a little more. Hey, it made me laugh!

Still, this was kind of a sad episode. Seriously, Edna, you can do so much better!

Late Night Retro Television Review: Check It Out! 2.12 “High Tech”

Posted on September 21, 2024 by Lisa Marie Bowman

This week, Howard once again ruins Edna’s life.

Episode 2.12 “High Tech”

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

Howard has a gambling problem!

Wait a minute …. I thought that was the plot of last week’s episode.

Well, it’s the plot of this week’s episode as well. After Howard invests Edna’s life savings ($10,000, though it should be remembered that this is Canadian money) in a Venezuelan gold mine, Edna can only watch in horror as an earthquake rips through Venezuela and wipes out the gold mine. (She should just be happy that she invested before Chavez and Maduro came to power.) Howard, however, is sure that he can win her money back because he has a tip about a sure thing in an up-coming boxing match….

That’s it! Edna demands that Howard go to therapy.

Which Howard does. Dr. Cravitz (John Stocker) seems to be a little crazy himself, especially when people accidentally call him “Clavitz.” The doctor does help Howard to realize that he has a gambling problem. His mother used to take him to bingo halls while his father spent all of his time playing poker. Howard is a bad gambler because he’s trying to both win his parent’s love and get back at them for neglecting him while he was growing up. Damn, that’s depressing.

Howard returns to the store, diagnosed but hardly cured. Fortunately, he gets a call from his stockbroker, telling him that the gold mine is now worth $10,000 because there’s oil underneath the gold. Edna gets her money back, minus the money that Howard lost on the boxer.

This episode is another one where Howard is a complete and total buffoon. I prefer the episodes where Howard is an idiot to the ones where he’s actually competent. A competent manager is not a funny manager but a buffoonish boss who makes life difficult for the people working under him …. hey, who can’t relate to that? That’s why The Office was better when Michael was boss than when Andy took over. No one watches a show like this to root for management.

This episode had some funny moments. There was an entertaining B-plot about Christian installing a new computerized checking system and accidentally ordering three-years worth of potatoes at one time. (I had to smile when a jump cut revealed that every display in the store was now potato-related.) Even better, Gordon Clapp finally returns as the dim-witted handyman, Viker. Clapp’s ultra sincere line delivery made Viker into a hilarious character and the scenes where Viker gets on Howard’s nerves are always entertaining. When we first see Viker, he’s upgrading his lunchbox. Later, he tells Howard that “an important person called with an important message, that’s all I remember.” This show works best when it embraces absurdity and Viker is so wonderfully absurd that you can’t help but love the character.

Late Night Retro Television Review: Check It Out! 2.3 “Buddy, Can You Spare A Job?”

Posted on April 20, 2024 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Never hire a friend is the lesson of this week’s episode.

Episode 2.3 “Buddy, Can You Spare A Job?”

(Dir by Alan Erlich, originally aired on October 17th, 1986)

Cobb’s has got a new butcher!

Curt Farquar (Billy Van, who was a prominent horror host in Canada) not only knows how to cut meat but he’s also been Howard’s best friend since childhood. When Curt approaches Howard and explains that his wife has left him and he desperately needs a job, there’s no way that Howard can turn him down. Unfortunately, Curt turns out to be a bit of a bully, yelling at both the customers and his other co-workers. He even yells at Mrs. Cobb. Howard knows that he has to fire Curt but he doesn’t have the guts to do it. He gets Christian to do it and then reverses course as soon as Curt confronts him.

It would be really nice if Check It Out! could decide just who exactly Howard Bannister is meant to be. There are some episodes where Howard is a such a competent manager that other companies try to lure him away. Then there are episodes where he is totally incompetent. There are episodes where he and Edna are practically married and then others where they can barely stand each other. There are episodes where Howard is a sharp-tongued leader who won’t let anyone push him around and then there are ones, like this one, where he has to be coaxed out of his office. Sometimes, Howard is a tyrant. Other times, he’s a wimp. There’s never been any sort of consistency with how Howard has been portrayed and, as a result, I still don’t feel like I know the character.

That’s a problem for an episode like this one, where all of the humor centers around Howard’s inability to take an honest look at his friendship with Curt. The Office did several good episodes that centered around Michael Scott’s toxic friendship with Todd Packer. It was hard not to think about those episodes as I watched Howard fumble his way through Check it Out! On The Office, Michael’s one-way friendship with Packer told the viewer everything they needed to know about Michael. On Check It Out!, Howard’s friendship with Curt tells us nothing because the Howard who we’ve seen in previous episodes of Check It Out! would never have a friend like Curt.

For the record, Howard does eventually work up the courage to fire Curt. And Curt actually thanks Howard for firing him because it gives Curt the time to patch up his marriage. But first, of course, we have to sit through Curt threatening to jump off the roof of Cobb’s, just to teach Howard a lesson about …. something. Who knows?

On the plus side, the always funny Gordon Clapp was heavily featured in this episode. Viker convinced everyone to give him money so that he could send off for everyone’s family tree. Viker discovered that he was descended from an axe-sharpener. Marlene was descended from wolves. Howard was descended from Napoleon, which of course led to Don Adams putting his hand in his suit. And Christian …. Christian didn’t have a family tree because “your cheque bounced.”

(The closed captioning apparently understood that Check It Out! was a Canadian show.)

The Viker stuff was funny, largely because of Gordon Clapp’s ability to deliver the most absurd dialogue with a totally straight face. The Howard/Curt stuff was kind of boring. This was not a memorable episode to check out.

Late Night Retro Television Review: Check it Out 2.2 “Edna’s Phantom Romance”

Posted on April 13, 2024 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Season 2 continues with more inconsistent Howard and Edna weirdness.

Episode 2.2 “Edna’s Phantom Romance”

(Dir by Alan Erlich, originally aired on October 10th, 1986)

Howard Bannister is, once again, the most unromantic man who has ever lived.

Now, I know that goes against what we’ve recently seen of Howard. In fact, just last week, Howard agreed to go without a paycheck for two months so that he and Edna could have a vacation together. This show has never been particularly consistent when it comes to its portrayal of Howard and Edna’s relationship. When it first started, Howard was portrayed as being a jerk. Then, he became a romantic. Then he went back to being a jerk. And then he become, yet again, a romantic. And now, he’s back to being a jerk. And Edna has gone from being snarky to naive to intelligent to naive again that it’s next to impossible to really say for sure who she is supposed to be.

Edna and Howard’s anniversary is coming up. Edna wants him to take her to Hawaii. Howard would rather stay at home and watch bowling. It seems to be an impasse but myself, I’m wondering if Edna realizes that flying from Canada to Hawaii is not exactly something that one does on a whim. I mean, you don’t just hop down to Hawaii for a few hours and then fly back, especially not on a retail worker’s salary. Howard may be the manager but I doubt he has enough money to purchase a private jet. Plus, Edna and Howard just took a 2-month vacation. She could have gone to Hawaii then.

Edna, trying to get Howard’s attention, hires one of Leslie’s community theater friends to pretend to be her new boyfriend. Howard freaks out after he sees Edna and the actor together. Edna thinks that Howard is going to propose to her but instead, he breaks up with her. “Oh, Howard!” Edna says before explaining that she was just paying the other guy to pretend to be in love with her. Howard is surprisingly okay with that and the two of them get back together. It’s interesting that Howard doesn’t care that Edna has basically spent a week lying to and manipulating him.

This was one of those really annoying and dumb episodes where every problem could have been resolved by people just talking to each other and not making assumptions. Bleh. I hate episodes like this.

On the plus side, Marlene’s constantly changing hairstyle remains the best thing about the show. Here’s what she went with this week:

This episode was pretty dumb and I’m pretty sure that they already did a Howard-Screws-Up-His-Anniversary episode during the previous season. If Check It Out! is already repeating itself (and especially if its repeating itself to diminishing returns), that means I’ve got a long few months ahead of me as I make my way through seasons 2 and 3 of this show.

Next week …. oh, who knows?

Late Night Retro Television Review: Check it Out! 2.1 “Getting To Know You”

Posted on April 6, 2024 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Today, we start a new season of Check It Out!

Episode 2.1 “Getting to Know You”

(Dir by Alan Erlich, originally aired on October 3rd, 1986)

The second season of Check It Out! opens with some changes at Cobb’s Grocery store.

Howard now has a mustache. Tonya Williams and Henry Beckman are no longer listed in the opening credits so I guess Jennifer and Alf have moved on from working at the store. Gordon Clapp, however, is now listed in the opening credits so Viker, who was one of more consistently funny characters during the first season, is now a series regular.

The episode opens with zero customers in the store. Due to a broken waterline, the store’s parking lot has been taken over by a bunch of construction workers. Howard calls them “apes.” Marlene is sick of them hitting on her whenever she comes to work. Christian thinks he could take them on. And Mrs. Cobb is demanding that Howard lay off two employees to help offset costs.

Howard could always point out that, with Jennifer and Alf gone, the store now only has seven employees but he doesn’t. Instead, he follows Edna’s advice and sits down for one-and-one interviews with his employees and gets to know them. Howard thinks that he’ll be able to find an employee who doesn’t really need the job but instead, he discovers that all of his employees are wonderful people. Marlene cries about how difficult her life has been lately. Murray talks about how both of his parents are out of work. Leslie volunteers to give up his job and Howard is so touched that there’s no way he can possibly accept Leslie’s offer. Jack Christian, who is usually pretty self-centered and obnoxious, seems like an easy choice but then he gets beaten up defending Marlene from the construction workers.

Finally, Howard realizes that there’s only one thing he can do. He lays off Edna and then he lays himself off. He announces that he and Edna are going on vacation and they’ll be back in four months. Ummm …. look, I’ll be honest. I’ve never been through the experience of being fired or laid off so I don’t really fully understand how it all works. Isn’t Howard kind of taking a risk here? I mean, I guess Howard is assuming that Christian will just fill in for four months and then Howard and Edna will return and everything will go back to normal. But what if Mrs. Cobb hires a new manager? What if she doesn’t want to take back Howard and Edna? I mean, to me, it sounds like Howard basically just quit his job and forced Edna to quit her’s as well. But everyone in the store seems to be convinced that Howard will be back in just a few months.

I guess my point is that Check it Out! doesn’t seem like it was always 100% realistic.

Anyway, this episode was okay. It reintroduced all the characters and gave us a chance to get reacquainted with them, as any season premiere should. Gordon Clapp, Jeff Pustil, and Kathleen Laskey all had moments that made me smile. Those three have the ability to make even the simplest of lines funny. During the first season, Don Adams could occasionally be a bit overly frantic as Howard. For the second season premiere, though, his performance felt a bit toned down and it no longer felt as if he and the show were begging for laughs. Still, I just can’t get over that ending. Edna was so excited that her boyfriend essentially put her future employment at risk.

Next week, we’ll see if Howard still has a job.

Late Night Retro Television Review: Check it Out! 1.19 “My Darling Serpentine”

Posted on February 24, 2024 by Lisa Marie Bowman

This week, Cobb’s descends into chaos!

Episode 1.19 “My Darling Serpentine”

(Dir by John Bell, originally aired on February 19th, 1986)

Last week, Edna left Howard after an argument and Howard had an affair with her replacement. It was implied that Edna leaving Howard was a frequent occurrence and that Howard was the least romantic man alive.

This episode, Edna and Howard are once again totally in love and Howard is so romantic that Edna can even brag about all of the presents that he’s given her over the years.

Continuity, what is it?

This year, Howard is busy at the store so he makes the mistake of sending Alf the security guard out to pick up a piece of jewelry for Edna. Alf, however, gets distracted while walking by a pet store and instead, he returns to the store with a hamster. Edna freaks out about the idea of owning a rodent and instead, she gives it to Murray. The hamster then escapes into the store, which isn’t good since there’s a health inspector in the neighborhood.

Meanwhile, it’s prom night for Murray and he needs a date. Not surprisingly, he asks supercool Marlene to be his date. Also not surprisingly, Marlene laughs in his face. However, after thinking about how she never got to go to her prom because she dropped out of school, Marlene changes her mind. Murray is super-excited until Christian and Alf suggest that Marlene is going to take his virginity. When Marlene shows up in the break room in her prom dress and a blue wig, Murray freaks out.

Murray runs away and disappears into the store. Now, everyone not only has to look for the hamster but also for Murray.

This episode is a bit frantic but it made me laugh. A lot of that was because Gordon Clapp made his third appearance on the show, playing the cheerfully dumb Viker. Previously, Viker was the store’s electrician. In this episode, he’s suddenly a pest control expert. In order to track down the hamster, he released a snake into the store. In order to track down the snake, he releases a mongoose. “I’m glad I don’t shop here,” Viker says. Gordon Clapp delivers all of Viker’s lines with such sincerity that his brief appearance elevates the entire episode.

In the end, thinks work out. The snake is caught when it attacks Howard. Marlene forgives Murray and they head off to prom. The hamster runs off with Marlene’s blue wig. And Edna is surprisingly forgiving about Howard telling the security guard to buy her an anniversary present. As for the mongoose …. well, I’m sure it found a good place to live. The important thing is that this episode made me laugh more than the typical episode of Check It Out! I enjoyed it.

Late Night Retro Television Reviews: Check It Out! 1.13 “Love Is A Many Splendored Alf”

Posted on January 6, 2024 by Lisa Marie Bowman

This week, my favorite character returns!

Episode 1.13 “Love Is A Many Splendored Alf”

(Dir by John Bell, originally aired on January 8th, 1986)

Viker’s back!

Played by Gordon Clapp, Viker is the store’s electrician. He’s only appeared in a handful of episodes this season, though Wikipedia says that he’ll become a regular during season 2. Viker is one of the best characters on the show. Technically, he’s the goofy dumb guy but what makes Viker special is that, while he’s definitely goofy, he’s not really that dumb. Viker can put his thoughts together, it’s just that he put them together differently than everyone around him. Viker lives in a world of his own, one that has its own peculiar set of rules. Alone amongst all the characters on the show, Viker is always honest and tries to directly answer every question that he’s asked. For instance, when Howard asks him if he has an idea as to what is making the store’s light flicker on and off, Viker replies, “Yes,” and leaves it at that. Howard, after all, didn’t ask him what the idea is.

Viker is at the store because Cobb’s is having electrical problems. The lights are flickering on and off. (It takes Viker a few minutes to notice because, as he explains, his blinking his synchronized with the flickering.) The cash registers are humming. The refrigerator in the break room has broken down. The store’s freezer also breaks down, leading 800 pounds of melted ice cream and a bunch of TV dinner rotting in an alley. Can Viker figure out what the problem is?

No, of course, he can’t. Fortunately, Alf the Security Guard can. When Alf gives the broken refrigerator a good slap, the refrigerator comes back to life and the lights stop flickering. So, I guess it was all the refrigerator’s fault! To be honest, I don’t know much about how things are wired in most stores but …. well, let’s just go with it.

Alf …. poor Alf! Alf has a tough week in this episode. Edna sets Alf up on a date with her friend Helen (Nonnie Griffith). Helen likes that Alf is a plain-spoken, blue collar guy. Helen is less impressed when Alf gets drunk on their date and tries to crack open his escargot. She is especially not happy when he pours a pitcher of water on the flambé. After the disastrous date, Alf is convinced that he’ll never see Helen again. Fortunately, for Alf, Helen just happens to be in the store when he gets the refrigerator working and basically saves everyone’s job. Helen is impressed enough to give Alf a second chance. Awwwww!

(In other words, it’s a good thing Viker couldn’t figure out what the problem was!)

As far as this episode goes, I never really believed that Helen would have been attracted to Alf in the first place so that story kind of fell flat. And seriously, if you’re dating a guy because you like how direct and blue collar he is, what are you thinking serving him escargot and flambé? But I was happy to see Viker again and I appreciated that this was an episode where everyone in the store acted as eccentrically as possible. Check It Out! works best when it leans into absurdism.