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 and Peacock!

This week, Marlene gets an opportunity!

Episode 3.11 “The Naked Truth”

(Dir by Alan Erlich, originally aired on November 21st, 1987)

Women Of The World magazine wants to do a story on Marlene’s life as a cashier.  All of her coworkers try to worm their way into the interview but Marlene succeeds in kicking them all out of the breakroom.  The reporter from the magazine informs Marlene that her life story is fascinating and now they’ll just need to take some naked pictures to go along with it.

Howard is stunned when Marlene says she’s going to pose nude.  Marlene points out that Howard keeps adult magazines in his desk drawer.  Howard denies it before then opening up his desk drawer and checking them out.  Howard fears that Marlene is going to make Cobb’s look bad.  Marlene, in the end, chooses not to get the pictures done because she doesn’t want her future daughter to be ashamed of her.  Personally, I would have preferred for Marlene to have said, “It’s my decision and I’ll make sure my daughter understands that she has to do what’s right for her instead of worrying about what everyone else says,” but whatever.  It’s just a silly sitcom.

Meanwhile, Viker’s wife is pregnant!  Awwww, Viker!  Gordon Clapp got to a do and say a lot in this episode, which I enjoyed.  Viker is one of the more consistently funny characters on this show.  Gordon Clapp played Viker’s stupidity with such an earnest sincerity that you just want someone to hug the guy.

This was not a bad episode.  Gordon Clapp and Kathleen Laskey were often this show’s strongest assets and this episode featured both of them.  Laskey did a great job portraying Marlene’s dilemma while Clapp made me laugh at even the silliest of jokes.  Nope, not a bad episode at all, even if I do think Marlene should have just told everyone that it was none of their business what she chose to do.