While this episode finishes with a nice "aww" ending, it really struggles to get there.
Chip is known to be saving money to buy a car. While the actor, Stanley Livingston is over 18 years old at the time this episode aired, we vaguely get the feeling the Chip is still just 16. Just like Ernie is supposed to still be about 12-13, when Barry Livingston was already 15 when this aired.
Charley finds a Mason jar with Chip's savings and shows it to Steve, who says that Chip should open a bank account. It's hard to imagine a smart father like Steve normally is, not getting his sons to each open a bank account before they turned 10.
We see Chip greatly admiring a hot rod his friend owns and wants to sell. Chip isn't fazed at all when his girlfriend shows total dislike for the vehicle. But he only has about $57 and the friend is asking $65 for his hot rod. He goes to Dad, who points out that even if he gave him the difference, in lieu of any present for his upcoming birthday, as Chip requested, that Chip still wouldn't have any money for the insurance or upkeep. He points out that the insurance would cost him more than that car would.
Now most teens with a car are not made to pay for their own insurance. Those costs, then and now, would prohibit most teens from ever owning a car-and that would mean the parents would have to spend a lot of time chauffeuring their kids around. Besides that, if they drive the parents' car, their folks are already paying a lot more for insurance in that regard.
So it seems hard to believe that Steve insists Chip pay for his own insurance at his age. What is harder to believe is how quickly that whole topic gets discarded when Steve goes to work the next day and sees an antique being driven by a co-worker. It was about 50 years old, a high boxy-type car, all black. Nostalgically, Steve thinks he should change his mind and buy it for Chip's birthday.
Again, it's hard to believe Steve doesn't realize that a teen wants a speedy sporty-type car, not a little-old-lady type which is what he buys for Chip.
We see Chip unable to contain his disdain for the car when presented with it, but are led to believe that Steve thinks he loves it. Charley is the only one fooled, which doesn't fit in with his usual perceptive abilities. Robbie orders Chip to take it to school and take his girlfriend for a ride in it, and to not let Dad find out what he really thinks about the gift.
Chip reluctantly goes along, and the next day is amazed to learn that his buddy with the hot rod thinks the antique is awesome and would love to trade him the hot rod Chip coveted and throw in another $60 as well. But Chip says proudly that he wouldn't sell because this is the car his Dad gave him. We see that Steve and family hear that, although Chip is unaware they are close enough to hear that.
If this was John Boy receiving an old junker that would enable him to commute to college-and was the only way he could attend-we could see Dad getting a car like this for him. I mean, if it was needed transportation so Chip could do something important that he couldn't do otherwise. But as he stated earlier, Chip gets plenty of chance to drive either Steve's or Robby's cars. He doesn't NEED a car.
So Steve should have not been so clueless, believing the 50-year-old car would make Chip happy. He has already raised two sons, after all. Had it been a sporty old car, from say the 1940s, you could see him thinking Chip would like it. But the big boxy car truly did not suggest speed, or zipping along anywhere.
I don't understand them making a point of Chip having to pay insurance in the early going, then discarding that altogether. Why did Steve change his mind about that?
I didn't care for the bedroom scene where Robby is too stern with Chip. Part of the problem is that Ernie was allowed to stay, provided he keep quiet while his brothers talk. But Ernie couldn't keep quiet for 10 seconds, interjecting his thoughts after almost every two sentences. He kept getting warned, but couldn't shut up. That behavior is more fitting for a 4-year-old, not a mid-teen as Ernie was.
The only scene that actually was funny was when Chip and girlfriend were looking at the hot rod. She showed total dislike, but Chip was so much in love with the car that he was oblivious to all of her complaints. She'd say how noisy it was, and he's say, "Yeah, isn't it great?" and so on. They even added a dumb line with Chip saying she had to go home because she got grease on her clothes...even though she never got close enough to touch the thing.
Two short side observations: This family that moved from the Midwest to California has some odd boys. Chip and Ernie have on their bedroom wall, two college pennants-for Washington and Oregon. Something from where they used to live, or where they moved to would make sense.
In this and several other recent episodes, they have used an establishing shot of the office where Steve works. But they have gone back to using the same establishing scene they used when he worked in Bryant Park. Was the budget really so tight they couldn't have found some other picture of some building that could stand for his new office? One would think they moved 2,000 miles away but somehow the man still commutes to his old Bryant Park office.
While the ending was nice, so much of the behaviors were inconsistent with the characters that I thought this one more annoying than entertaining. I give it a 4.
Chip is known to be saving money to buy a car. While the actor, Stanley Livingston is over 18 years old at the time this episode aired, we vaguely get the feeling the Chip is still just 16. Just like Ernie is supposed to still be about 12-13, when Barry Livingston was already 15 when this aired.
Charley finds a Mason jar with Chip's savings and shows it to Steve, who says that Chip should open a bank account. It's hard to imagine a smart father like Steve normally is, not getting his sons to each open a bank account before they turned 10.
We see Chip greatly admiring a hot rod his friend owns and wants to sell. Chip isn't fazed at all when his girlfriend shows total dislike for the vehicle. But he only has about $57 and the friend is asking $65 for his hot rod. He goes to Dad, who points out that even if he gave him the difference, in lieu of any present for his upcoming birthday, as Chip requested, that Chip still wouldn't have any money for the insurance or upkeep. He points out that the insurance would cost him more than that car would.
Now most teens with a car are not made to pay for their own insurance. Those costs, then and now, would prohibit most teens from ever owning a car-and that would mean the parents would have to spend a lot of time chauffeuring their kids around. Besides that, if they drive the parents' car, their folks are already paying a lot more for insurance in that regard.
So it seems hard to believe that Steve insists Chip pay for his own insurance at his age. What is harder to believe is how quickly that whole topic gets discarded when Steve goes to work the next day and sees an antique being driven by a co-worker. It was about 50 years old, a high boxy-type car, all black. Nostalgically, Steve thinks he should change his mind and buy it for Chip's birthday.
Again, it's hard to believe Steve doesn't realize that a teen wants a speedy sporty-type car, not a little-old-lady type which is what he buys for Chip.
We see Chip unable to contain his disdain for the car when presented with it, but are led to believe that Steve thinks he loves it. Charley is the only one fooled, which doesn't fit in with his usual perceptive abilities. Robbie orders Chip to take it to school and take his girlfriend for a ride in it, and to not let Dad find out what he really thinks about the gift.
Chip reluctantly goes along, and the next day is amazed to learn that his buddy with the hot rod thinks the antique is awesome and would love to trade him the hot rod Chip coveted and throw in another $60 as well. But Chip says proudly that he wouldn't sell because this is the car his Dad gave him. We see that Steve and family hear that, although Chip is unaware they are close enough to hear that.
If this was John Boy receiving an old junker that would enable him to commute to college-and was the only way he could attend-we could see Dad getting a car like this for him. I mean, if it was needed transportation so Chip could do something important that he couldn't do otherwise. But as he stated earlier, Chip gets plenty of chance to drive either Steve's or Robby's cars. He doesn't NEED a car.
So Steve should have not been so clueless, believing the 50-year-old car would make Chip happy. He has already raised two sons, after all. Had it been a sporty old car, from say the 1940s, you could see him thinking Chip would like it. But the big boxy car truly did not suggest speed, or zipping along anywhere.
I don't understand them making a point of Chip having to pay insurance in the early going, then discarding that altogether. Why did Steve change his mind about that?
I didn't care for the bedroom scene where Robby is too stern with Chip. Part of the problem is that Ernie was allowed to stay, provided he keep quiet while his brothers talk. But Ernie couldn't keep quiet for 10 seconds, interjecting his thoughts after almost every two sentences. He kept getting warned, but couldn't shut up. That behavior is more fitting for a 4-year-old, not a mid-teen as Ernie was.
The only scene that actually was funny was when Chip and girlfriend were looking at the hot rod. She showed total dislike, but Chip was so much in love with the car that he was oblivious to all of her complaints. She'd say how noisy it was, and he's say, "Yeah, isn't it great?" and so on. They even added a dumb line with Chip saying she had to go home because she got grease on her clothes...even though she never got close enough to touch the thing.
Two short side observations: This family that moved from the Midwest to California has some odd boys. Chip and Ernie have on their bedroom wall, two college pennants-for Washington and Oregon. Something from where they used to live, or where they moved to would make sense.
In this and several other recent episodes, they have used an establishing shot of the office where Steve works. But they have gone back to using the same establishing scene they used when he worked in Bryant Park. Was the budget really so tight they couldn't have found some other picture of some building that could stand for his new office? One would think they moved 2,000 miles away but somehow the man still commutes to his old Bryant Park office.
While the ending was nice, so much of the behaviors were inconsistent with the characters that I thought this one more annoying than entertaining. I give it a 4.
