This is the one in which Peggy meets her high-school rival at a bowling alley. After an exchange of catty insults and an aborted hair-pulling fight, Peggy agrees to a bowl off between their two families. She herself can't bowl, nor can Kelly, but Al is an expert and Bud has been taking bowling lessons that have put his score in the 200 range -- except that he hasn't. He's spent the money on a lifetime ticket to a rock concert or something.
The bowl off takes place apace. Kelly distracts the boys in the rival family simply by bending over in her short black dress, but in fact the other family is pretty good. The loser must have her photo taken in ludicrous circumstances. Guess who loses.
The episode has one of those fantasies or memories that next-door neighbor Marcy begins casually but then becomes passionate about. Asked if she ever had a rival in school, Marcy tells Peg with evident resolution, "Barbara." The rivalry began all the way back in the third grade. When Marcy let a boy kiss her on the cheek, Barbara showed him her underpants. The humiliation went on for years. But Marcy began to look forward to meeting Barbara at their high-school reunion because she'd finished college, had a wonderful husband, drove a Mercedes, and had lost ten pounds. "Then Barbara went and died a tragic death. Poor Barbara . . . Poor Barbara . . . Her decapitation was all anyone could TALK about!" Just about all the episodes are imaginative and well written and most of the gags successful. This episode is probably above average.
But I keep wondering: how did such raunch make it past the censors on TV? And, if the series was successful, why were there myriad dull imitations?
The bowl off takes place apace. Kelly distracts the boys in the rival family simply by bending over in her short black dress, but in fact the other family is pretty good. The loser must have her photo taken in ludicrous circumstances. Guess who loses.
The episode has one of those fantasies or memories that next-door neighbor Marcy begins casually but then becomes passionate about. Asked if she ever had a rival in school, Marcy tells Peg with evident resolution, "Barbara." The rivalry began all the way back in the third grade. When Marcy let a boy kiss her on the cheek, Barbara showed him her underpants. The humiliation went on for years. But Marcy began to look forward to meeting Barbara at their high-school reunion because she'd finished college, had a wonderful husband, drove a Mercedes, and had lost ten pounds. "Then Barbara went and died a tragic death. Poor Barbara . . . Poor Barbara . . . Her decapitation was all anyone could TALK about!" Just about all the episodes are imaginative and well written and most of the gags successful. This episode is probably above average.
But I keep wondering: how did such raunch make it past the censors on TV? And, if the series was successful, why were there myriad dull imitations?