Episode 30 - A Woman Between Friends

Weird being way media. Hi, mister Walters, can she that guy with it? Now? He's an actor? All I'm a driver and the only camp driver in his place.

Good evening and welcome tonight, mister Walter's a Taxi podcast. I am HP your co host and with me as always is my co host, Father Malone, Father Malone hawre you this evening brown with tan marbling rose colored thread. We'll explain exactly what that means as we talk about this episode. We are talking Taxi Season two, episode eight, a Woman between Friends. This was written by Ken Eston and it was directed by James Burrows.

Reminder, we are doing these shows in broadcast order and not in order of filming. We open here with our customary B role. We're outside of Marios during the day, and this one's cool because we actually see Alex walking into the restaurant. The last few episodes were on a tear where we actually see jud Hirsh driving the cab running around trying to find Angela in the city. I love this.

Yeah, they made the most of their whatever one day excursion to Manhattan with jud Hirsh and a camera crew. Because I've noticed in the next few episodes it's going to happen a lot. Not only do we get the Marios thing, the Mario's b role is kind of unremarkable. I mean it's remarkable here only because Jed Hirsh is involved, but it's usually just like an establishing shot. There's nothing fancy about it.

But if you had the fucking funky bassline and electric piano that they came up with for this one, are you kidding me? You had mentioned I don't know what episode it was, but there was one episode where the song it was like Ride like the Wind by Christopher crossed to I need to start keeping track of which songs because these are all on this song. I think it's called the Genie. It's Bob James's soundtrack to Taxi essentially, so it's all there. I just have to put the song to the episode.

But yeah, it's great. I love when they can cut in some funky Bob James. When we cut inside of Marios, we can clearly see that Alex isn't wearing the same clothes that he had when he walked in in the establishing b roll shot. So now that now they would just cgi them over, maybe we should do the Taxi special editions h ME where we correct all of them, mistake, the visual mistakes with CGI, the remastered edition, fatial replacement, and stuff like we add Reverend Jim to more episodes in the first season instead of walking in the background, just kind of hovering on the periphery so we know, you know, like Bobby and Alex and Elane are at a table and Alex is moaning that the beer's too He's establishing what is essentially the B plot of this episode, such as it is B that rhymes a D and that stands for dentist.

Oh, we've got a dentist subplot. Sitcom old everybody, spoiler alert, this is my least favorite part of the whole episode. And that's saying something. This dentist episode, nobody likes it. There's only one portrayal of a dentist on screen that's ever been intolerable, and that was Steve Martin in Little Shop of Ours.

That was it, and even that was rough. So Alex don't want to go to no dentist, but Elaine gonna make him go to the dentist. I noticed that Elaine has dropped all of her Iron Randi isms. She's no longer like you know what you should do. You should either shut the fuck up, we should get your tooth fixed.

Well, either way, get out of mine. Yeah, where was this attitude of you know what, Alex, some people just can't be helped. You can't be helped, Alex. I don't want to hear anything about it unless you move on it. Don't bother me with this business.

But all of a sudden, she's here's two dollars. Go get yourself some flyers. Otherwise, shut your mouth. You're part of the problem. Where's a long string.

I'm going to tie it around this door knob in the other end Old West style, around your tooth, and I'm going to slam the door. Shouldn't they have just done that, gone the full sitcom route, like all the like, they tie into the back of the cab, like Tony tries to punch it out. Now, just just right here, Tony, just right here. I'm a professional not to belabor the point, but yes, Alex has a bad tooth and he's complaining about it, but he doesn't like to go to the dentist. So that's essentially where that's what we're in for for this bee plot.

It's just him avoiding going to the dentist strap in. At that point, a beautiful blonde and a trench coat walks into the bar. I'm gonna put you to the test right now. This is what do I call it? Not Chekhov's trench coat.

No, no, that's right. It's got to be one of three things. According to you, she's either she's naked, or she's a spy, right or one take effect. There was a third just random comedic effect. None of those proved to be true.

Although her outfit underneath is horrifying, it's awful. Her outfit put me in the mind of the video for Let's Get Physical by Olivia Newton John where she's kind of in this bright pink and blue and pastel colored workout suit. That's what this woman's wearing. So she was on her way back from filming one of those videos of the like the three girls in aerobics clothes just working out, you know, seemed to be on every channel because we were all working out with it. She walks in and Bobby is immediately smitten the woman.

The woman's name will find out as Janet is played by an actress named Connie Forceland. Are you were you aware of Connie and her work father alone. No, not even remote one. It's fairly interesting. She has had a surpriseingly robust career, including she's had roles on Er Castle.

She was even in the movie The River's Edge. I love it. And but what I love best about her resume is she did her best Tina Louise impression when she played Ginger in the Harlem Globetrotters on Gilligan's Island. I do remember her from that. Yes, she faced off against future Oscar winner Martin Landau.

He was the bad guy in that movie or that TV. I guess it was the anti Howl, right. He was just like a It was like the Lex Luthor version of Howel, basically Martin Landau. And so he was automatically insane. Not to get sidetracked, but his career took a lot of interesting twists and turns to Edwood for sure.

Nineteen ninety nine took place twenty five years ago. HB, where's the moon? Look? Cut? Last of that orbit?

That's the end the Earth. That was the happy beginning to their sci fi show. That was the plot, wasn't it? I haven't I think the last time I saw an episode was I was legitimately probably six or seven. It's been so long.

Oh, I've gone just a year or so ago. And they're actually very good. They they're much better than I remember them being. There's one that's actually genuinely frightening. There's a horror episode.

I don't even know how we got here because we're talking about Harlem, Globetrotter's Jogan's Island. Anyway, let's get back to Mario. Was a lot of tim in the Buccaneers. I just want to say that because it doesn't get said enough. Everyone says home.

Nobody ever says the Bucketeers, the Bucketeers, what was the Bucketeers? Metal lark Lemon had his own troop, Metal lark Lemon and the Bucketeers the hell out of here? Are you serious? It was a competing team. Absolutely, really they did.

They tour and everything. Absolutely they did. Were they successful? No, but they had that name. Me O lark Lemon and the Bucketeers.

I did see when my son was real, real young. I took him to see the Harlem Wizards, which might predate the Globe Charters actually, but it's like a small scale Globe Charters. They come to a school and they play a pickup game against like that school's coach and principal and a few teachers, and against the Washington corporals. Tony is likewise struck by this woman who walks in, this woman in the trench coat, and then, like competing primates in the wild, Tony and Bobby start to square off against each other. Each one is insisting to the other that they saw her first.

She's she's quote unquote theirs. It's all very sophomoric, which I guess is somehow the point and besides the point. But it reminded me of sibling right valry episodes of lesser sitcoms like The Brady Bunch probably had a few episodes where like Greg and Peter are squaring off about who dated whom. It's all very silly and beneath taxi. In my opinion, what did you think?

I think that new self actualized Elen Nardo was turned on by this whole display of these vero men battling each other to take what's their Maybe she's taken the John Burns role and she's puppeteering all of the cabbys to do her bidding. Oh man, evil Nardo. I love the idea I gotta I I kind of want to. We should watch the rest of the season with an eye toward that. I think I love that, the fact that she's turned heel in wrestling parlance basically, and they're trying to course correct here, like real hard with her being overly motherly with Alex to the point of, like my girlfriend walked by when this episode, so I was like, why does she care so much about It's goddamn too like grown man.

Yeah, she's all over him. We've glided over that part. But essentially, Alex makes her promise like make me an appointment at the dentist, but don't tell me until we're just about to go, because I'm such a weenie that I can't. It's too horrifying and too scary for me to worry about going to the dentist. But we will see she in fact does exactly that.

So Janet, this woman takes a seat at the bar while Tony and Bobby are continuing to argue back and forth over her. It keeps evolving into I saw her first, No, I saw her first, and back and forth, and then Alex, like someone's dad, tells them to sit back down. He's had enough. Maybe the tooth that's been nagging at him is made him a little less patient with these two children. I don't think at that point I wouldn't need a bad tooth tell him to shut up, Like, either one of you go over there, or both of you go over there, just do something, but squat.

I just want to eat my bread. I just want to eat my ling with clam sauce and my extra Seriously, but Alex decides again like someone's dad, to restore order by insisting that there's a better way to settle this, and Bobby suggests flipping a coin. You know what they should have done, hb They should have split the room down the middle, very Solomon, like, you know you get this half, I get that half right. We haven't seen that in different strokes, of course, you know it's terrible the Brady bunch. Right.

So Elaine is rightfully annoyed at all of this because he's She tries to remind them that, look, she's this is a person. This isn't an object to be one by. Actually, I like self actualized Elaine here, because she's not just preaching that they should rise above. She's pointing out that they're idiots because she's because Wheelers like, I'm an actor, I notice everything, and she forces him to, like look at So she forces him to give her the color of what Rigo shirt and he doesn't know it, and then like Banta shirt and he doesn't know an he's sitting right next to them. But that's of the line I said from the beginning, like what color the buttons on her coat?

And he nails it. He attributes it to his acumen as an actor. He can pick out all these details. Very Sherlock Holmes, like, I guess. So she does show him how unevolved he is, but she does it in a really clever way because she makes him see like, yeah, you have that fucking skill, but you won't apply it to your goddamn friends who you're around, like you know, twenty hours a day.

But this girl walks by and your hyper focused on her just because she's a girl, like a conquest. She's very playful with it. I agree. It's one of the better aspects of this scene that Nardo is having fun at these guys' expense a little bit, but also trying to make them understand that what they're doing isn't cool. It's not evolved at all.

Oh a side note, Tony continues to do what I've called slatering in the past in honor of Saved by the Bell. He can't sit down like a normal person. He has to flip the chair one hundred and eighty degrees and sit so that the back of the chair is against his chest. I don't know what, Why does he keep doing this? Father Malone?

That's that Listen. We're in season two now, baby, that's what Banta does. I never see him not do it now, Like, I'm surprised if he sat down like a normal human at this point, that would shock me. I go, oh, what's wrong with Tony? After more pullavering over this poor woman, they finally get around to having Alex slip the coin, but even that devolves like who's who gets to call it?

And it's just it's going on for too long at this point. Eventually Bobby wins the coin. Oh, well, you're right, it does go on for too long. They just get to it, like there's a new character they've got to introduce and get rid of in twenty two minutes. Can we get to her instead of this like incessant back and forth.

This is an overwritten episode for what we ultimately get, which is not much. There's really not a lot of story to hang here. But this takes way too much time to get to the point of one of these guys going over and talking to this woman. Bobby goes over there, he struts over to Janet at the bar, and he leads with one of his patented Bobby hair flips. It's a luxurious mane of hair that he's got.

And Tony's watching this and basically reckoning with the fact that this is death for his chances to actually get anywhere with this woman. He's grousing about it the whole time. I'll know he's a Peluka and Bobby's suave. It's true. He does have a certain raw machismo that Bobby can't ever he can't aspire to.

But he's not smooth like Bobby. There's no way he's got no chance here. Is he more attractive than Bobby. I think he is more attractive than Bobby Rayler. It's a matter of taste.

But come on, let's be serious here. You put those two together. It is and by wild coincidence, I was watching a clip of Tony Dan's a guest hosting The Tonight Show back in nineteen eighty one. I think were I was, and one of his guests was, of course Mary Lou Henner had to be, but the second his third guest that evening was the celebrated trash authoress Jackie Collins. Wow, and she came out and she basically was fawning over him and said, he's hot.

Don't you all think that he's hot? My next guest is a terrific lady. She's a very successful authorss and she has yet another bestseller out and it's called Hollywood Husbands. Hey, she is Jackie Collins. I'm gonna tell you you're hot, ladies.

You really are pumping out here. To be fair, I get the sense that Jackie Collins is just doing that everywhere she goes. Thanks this bell hop. Oh my, I didn't think of that, but you're probably right. The water boy over here, he's delicious.

It's kind of like like Hall and Oates, right, some people some women really love Hall, some really love Oats, but probably there aren't many crossovers between the two of them. Some people want the dark hair and mustache, and I think it's the same case with Hollanos. The problem is, and it's the problem Tony Bant is having right now, right it's unfolding in front of his eyes, is that the others are passively attractive, but they have this other talent that supercharges their attractiveness. So Jeff Conway is a pretty good looking guy, but when he's doing Bobby Wheeler turning on the charm, well, yeah, of course he's more attractive than Tony Bant at that point. He's certainly more conventionally attractive for that time.

I mean, the guy he was like a heart throb, you know, whereas Banta is more like, you know, would be Rocky Balboa. That was kind of his thing. But some women probably really go for that. I know. Well, we know from history that he was involved off screen with Mary lou Henner for a time, so she was into him.

Who's the set I don't know, but anyhow I am. I said it. Then, really that's all. So we cut back to the garage and Louie is congratulating Loaca for fixing ten cabs in one day, and for a reward, he says Loca can tune up his mos car as a bonus, and there's some back and forth where he tries to convince Loca that because Loca says, this isn't a bonus, You're just giving me more work, and he says, no, no, no, this is a bonus. And then Loca goes over to Elaine and Alex and says, is a bonus good?

And they say, yeah, bonus is great. Everybody wants a bonus, and that mollifies Loca and that's the end of that business back and forth. A little funny, but in essential, I'm surprised he didn't show up to try and pull out Wheelers, I mean Riggers too, who Louis no Loca like, I'm surprised they didn't involve them into the b plot in some way instead of just making some lame joke with him. Tony comes into the garage and gives Louis his bookings, and Alex, oddly for Alex, asks Tony about his weekend, specifically his date with Janet. Since when did Alex start looking for trouble he knows that Bobby and Tony are squaring off for the love of this woman.

Just seems odd for somebody who's made it his business not to poke his nose into other people's business. All of a sudden, he's like this. It's like he's at the hair salon and he's gossiping. So, how is your weekend? It's very on Alex, like Elaine has gotten to him.

I guess the roles are reversed. I don't know. So Tony says he took herround on Friday and Bobby took her out on Saturday. After Elaine starts chiding Tony about quote declaring a winner and claiming the prize, there's an odd moment where Tony says, Elaine, I don't know what you're getting so upset about. I don't know if you noticed this.

I think there's something in the editing. But there's an there's been awkward look between Tony and Lane with no follow up from either person and the yeah no they He says this line about I don't know what you're getting so upset about, and they look at each other, but she doesn't give him any kind of retort, and there's almost this low chuckle coming from the audience. It really makes me think that there's something odd happening with the edit, because there's there's this exchange. There was a joke there that they had to pull out or something something, but they look at each other. It's almost like the other one is waiting for the other person to come up with a line, like they've forgotten what their next cue is.

Very weird. This episode is very uncharacteristic, sloppy in that way. I think, yeah, top to bottom here, it's not nothing is really working at all, right, it really isn't. And I yeah, I don't know, I don't know. We'll continue to get into this, but it's really not uh not worthy.

Let's get get to get through it. Yeah, let's get through it. So Tony asks Elane if they can talk mid to min which is exactly something that a child like Tony would say to a beautiful woman like a lane. Right side note, we have another captain Marvel slash Richard Sakai sighting in the background. He walks behind them as they're having this exchange.

It's got to be Richard Sakai, got to be all Hail Sakai, the man is. He's a legend in my book already. I just think it's fantastic that he's been identified as this weirdo in the background. Yeah, this is my favorite sort of group of background characters in any sitcom, Like Cheers has some good ones, but this one's sort of unparalleled because we don't ever have to have any words with them at all, and we just keep enjoying their presence. It's always wonderful texture in the background of the garage, even putting aside the ones that we've given nicknames to, there's always some old guy and like a page boy cap or a scaley cap, or some odd ball character who's reading a newspaper all the caps, yeah, you know, caps for sale, like that old children's book, you know.

But there's always some weird New York looking person in the background to make you believe that this is actually happening in this garage in the middle of New York. It's always fabulous. Elaine and Tony start talking, and Tony is asking Elaine like, hey, you know, is do you think Bobby's like the best looking guy in the garage. He's clearly fishing for compliments like a child for this gross. It's really bad because she's trying to be very gentle with him and leading him along, and like a kind adult would be to a child, she validates him by saying, you're a good looking guy too.

In my book, you're a ten, I wrote down nauseating. That's the only word I could think of to describe this part of the scene. For me, what she didn't say out loud was of a thousand. Bobby then comes into the garage and he gives Louis his bookings, and immediately Tony starts grilling him on his date with Janet, and they both start one upping each other about how great the date was, how terrific Janet is, et cetera, et cetera, And it all evolves into this the race because they're going to try and make another date with her, so they start having this foot race to who can get to the payphone faster. But I will say this, Tony does do a pretty damn impressive hurdle over the mechanics toolbox to get to the phone first.

It's very athletic. I thought that was pretty impressive. It's good physical comedy, absolutely, except the whole fucking setup is laying right. It's all for not because the story is letting all of us down. Yeah, they start, don't you feel that way, like any of the possible enjoyment, like what could have been at least a slight chuckle is just like Okay, yeah, it's get at you, guys.

It's this. This is one of those cases where at this point, it's probably about eleven minutes into the episode, and I already feel like it's been an interminable watch. If this was a movie theater, i'd be checking my watch like is this over? What's going on here? It feels like it crawls like this episode.

Yeah, there's not much going on in this episode, and what there is going on isn't really worth holding my attention. H Do you hear that here? What? The sound of yellow lights being turned off slowly just winking out one at a time. Pretty much pretty much we're gonna we'll get to it.

They're arguing over this payphone, and for some weird read, maybe it's not weird, but I think it's weird that this attracts the attention of literally everyone in the garage. They all stop what they're doing. They're reading their papers, they're eating their food. They all like it's like E. F.

Hutton again. They're all looking at them. And but even Louis can help watching these shenanigans with a big grin on his face. So the whole garage grinds to a halt. As the guys continue to argue over the payphone.

You know what, Louise's presence is the only actual thing that made me laugh in the episode, because Elaine says, look, it's making Louis happy, and and Deviado's are standing there kind of like grinning. Yeah, because the way that the shot is like she is off screen when she says, look, even louis happy or whatever she says, but the camera's squarely on him and he looks like so eager and so happy about everything. He doesn't say a word, but he's just grinning like in a weird way. He looks like a child that they just gave all the cake to. Yeah.

Yeah, you can't believe his good fortune. He's really selling it. He sells this bet. He's selling the premise to this episode better than the main Blairs. Bobby basically says without saying it that Tony's a dummy that can't hold a decent conversation with Janet and Louis, then actually says he makes it explicit.

One of those things where you say with that saying you're a dummy who can't hold up whoops, Oh, I meant to say you're okay. In my book, but I guess I ended up saying you're a lier who can never have a decent Yeah, it's so bad, lunkhead. Tony keeps pushing Bobby on this point, and eventually Bobby just concedes like, yeah, I guess I did. I guess I did call you a dummy, and that Tony is really upset that Bobby is calling him stupid, and in Tony's primal rage, he demands that he hit Bobby. I mean, this is absurd.

He this is supposed to be his best friend, and all of a sudden, he says, oh, I want to rich you. He's got to hit something, so he wants to hit Bobby, and Bobby, being Tony's intellectual superior, tells Tony that it'll hit himself. And this top this stops Tony cold in in confusion. He doesn't know what to do at this point, because he didn't that's the last thing he expected to have happened for his opponent to say that he's going to hit himself. I think really has done this before, like on the subway or somebody who was menacingly approaching him.

And he's just like, oh no, no, no, no, you don't and then he just started punching himself. It's probably not a bad way to go. Act crazier than they are, and maybe they'll leave you alone. So Bobby, you just create fight club. It could be this is the reveal of Tyler Durden.

It could be Bobby who knows this season is heating up. There's a lot of intrigue happening in this episode. In particular, I noticed we only apologize episodes when we're really bored with the episode itself. We got to do something to make it interesting. Bobby again leans on his hammy acting to convincingly hit himself in the stomach.

And the best part of this is Alex is watching and is recoiling an embarrassment for Bobby. He's watching this transpire and you can just see that Alex is so horrified and so embarrass for this spectacle that Bobby has made for himself. Tony makes him hit himself harder, which he does, but it's still not good enough. He wants him to hit him in the face, and this all is too much. Finally for Alex, he leaps in to break up Bobby's fight with himself, and that part is actually I think because Alex says, oh, I'm breaking up a fight with himself.

It's one of the only vaguely funny moments where he's essentially breaking up the fight, but it's only Bobby that he's breaking it up with. I thought that was kind of a it was are you saying it's a little grouchow what he's doing? Maybe a little bit Bladville. So the two of them finally back off, but not before declaring that this Janet situation is they say the word war, and this is so Brady Bunch. I think they actually did the same thing on several episodes.

And may the best man win. I'm embarrassed even to write this town because it's so bad. We cut away, We cut back to the garage. Sometime later, Bobby's back with his bookings. He's alex up for thirty bucks so he can take Janet out the side.

Note here we go, you know what's coming here? How much is thirty dollars worth today? Because that doesn't seem like much, I mean thirty well, thirty bucks is not going to get you very far in today's economy. But according to my favorite website, amortization dot org, thirty dollars in nineteen seventy nine. How much do you think it's worth today fa them alone?

Ninety six fifty. No, it is worth one hundred and thirty five dollars and ninety three cents in twenty twenty four money. So it's not a trivial amount of money that he's asking to borrow from Alex. You know, it's like one hundred bucks basically, like, hey, give me a hundred bucks so I can go on a date with a girl. It's very it's very close to one hundred and fifty bucks.

That's a lot of money. Alex is complaining that between Bobby and Tony borrowing money from him, he's got no money because they keep hitting him up for cash so they can take her out to these expensive restaurants. And what follows actually maybe my favorite part of the episode, and once again it's due to Loca Slash Andy Kaufman. He asks both Tony and Bobby about their numerlest part follow he asks Tony and Bobby about their new girlfriend, and Loaca is surprised that they both they're both named Janet because he doesn't realize it's the same girl. And then they explained to him that it's the same girl.

And Loaca stops in confusion and says, wait a minute, you tell the way he's I'm not doing a justice, But he's like, you tell me, You tell me that there's one girl and she loved the both of you and care for the both of you. They both say yes, and he replies, well, could I meet her? Bob. It's a silly bit, but there's something about the way that Loca keeps repeating tell me as if he's almost angry, almost upset to hear about this arrangement. It's got nothing to do with anything, and yet I really really enjoyed it, and it's all because of a Kaufman.

Once again, like this, she have a friend. Tony asks Alex for thirty bucks, and that finally sets off Alex. Elaine, hearing all of this, hints to Tony and Bobby that they're going about this all wrong. She rightfully asks if either of them has talked with her about this arrangement or how Janet feels about it. Of course, the two of them have discussed none of this with Janet.

They're only talking superficial stuff with her about how great she is she is, and how beautiful she is and how lovely she is, Yeah, Elaine, you know, then when she has proven that they're just superficial dickheads, there's only one avenue to explore thunder down. She's just disgusted with their cavalier take on this matter. Bobby suddenly gets really frustrated with Elane and demands that she give him any better ideas on how to handle it, and her simple reply is just go up to Janet and ask her which of the two of you she'd prefer to go on seeing. So they both agree that they're going to talk to Janet together at Marios, but not before asking Alex. Like children, they're going to ask Alex to moderate for them.

He angrily refuses, saying he's not going to get involved with their high school love triangle. He's right, why should he get involved? And then Elaine. Here is where the B plot creeps back in. Elaine says, well, that's a good thing, because you've got a dental appointment in thirty minutes, and this immediately changes Alex's demeanor and he marches out with Bobby and Tony as we fade out, so he's avoiding going to the dentist.

The B plot has joined the AA. It's terrible. We're almost to the word bad. Just B and A together. Oh, that's the whole rest of this episode, dialogue, that's what it is.

We fade in to the tightest zoomed in b roll shot of the Marios sign that I ever I've ever seen. It's so tight. Before we get there, well, we're still in the garage. We have this fucking bizarre crane shot that zooms out over Elaine with these synth strings playing. Did you not?

Did you not register this? I didn't. It's so bizarre. You know, she watches him go out right, and then it's supposed to be like I can't believe that, Alex, but it's out of a Hitchcock film, the shot of her. But are the synth strings?

Is it creating? It's not stabbing like Psycho or anything like that, but it's definitely a synthesizer, like you know, they pressed the strings and they're playing some notes. It's very unusual, this transition. Now. I want to go back and rewatch it.

I didn't note that, but I wouldn't. We cut inside to Marrio. It was as tony as slattering as usual at a table there he's sitting there with Bobby and they're waiting if he was just sitting on the table. What was the character that Chris Catan used to play on SNL where he was It wasn't Mango? Was it the apple?

Yeah? No, I don't think it was Mango. It was I don't know, but but Mango that was That was another Chris Catan character. No, Mango was the fucking feral boy who eats apples. No, it wasn't.

No, it wasn't that. Christ Uh let me see here, mister peepers. That was the That was the character's name. What was mango? Mango was a nightclub shan truce that these like the guest hosts would always fall in love with, like Alec Baldwin would be on and he would fall in love with me.

That's right, okay, right, But mister peepers, was this science experiment that was this feral man and he would leap up onto tables. Are you suggesting that banta which would leap up on the table like mister peepers? And I would love to see it. And instead of an apple, like just a plate apasta, just two hand in it, like a meatball, just a meatball. Oh man, Yeah, I want to see that really badly.

While they're at the table waiting for Janet, Alex is nursing his bad tooth at the bar, and then Louis, of all people, strolls in. He starts throwing some casual insults at the cabvis And what I think is funny is he even calls Alex mary Worth, which might be one of the most dated references we've run into yet on taxi. Do you know who mary Worth was? The comic strip character it was? It was an old, tiny newspaper comic strip that dates back to the thirties, and typically a story would involve a character who had some issues or some troubles, and mary Worth would offer some sage, advice or assistance.

So it's a generational joke at Riager's expense, apparently. So Louis parks himself at Tony and Bobby's table. He orders SuDS and declares himself eager to witness the festivities. Alex offers him a buck to leave, but he's undeterred. Alex ups his offer to ten bucks, and Louis SCRAMs, but not before when he's passing Janet as she's walking in, says something like dump the both of them.

So she comes in and goes over to the two hymbos at the table and kisses both of them hello, which is just it's I mean, it's weird. Am I wrong? It's just even in today, like that would be weird if this woman's dating these two guys and then she's at this restaurant with both of them and she's pretending like it's all normal. I mean, Am I wrong about this? My old fashioned?

Yeah? Okay, I figured as much. Do we live in a much more progressive society? Are you saying this episode is progressive for its time? Yes, except it's not.

It's regressive because there is no solution that doesn't involve hurt feelings or that they can't overcome their own jealousies over the affections of this one young lady. If you were anti polyamory the Wheeler Avanta, yeah, I guess that's more of an accepted practice nowadays. But it's just I just found it sort of odd, like because these two aren't the most progressive individuals, let's face it, you know, but they're playing along with this whole thing. She comes in and she announces that Tony left his watch at her place and she had it engraved to Tony the next heavyweight champ. But there's exactly two problems with this.

Do you remember what those are? He's a middleweight and it's Bobby Wheeler's watch. It is good joke, but it is very faunfilmed. And I like the idea of Wheeler wearing that watch, and it says the greatest heavyweight chat again, it is funny. So they all sit down except for Tony, who's slatering.

He can't sit like a normal person, so he's he turns the chair around, and they defer to Alex to explain the situation. But she she Janet kind of plays dumb about dating both men at the same time. But she and again this is maybe progressive for its time, she doesn't really see why she has to choose one guy. The side note Alex, Yeah, no, and that's fine. I have no problem with that.

But my side note is Alex is so flummixed by her response that even he starts to slayter. Did you notice that, Like he's the one who now turns his chair around and he's sitting backwards like Tony. Let's trying to get it the mindset of the dummies that he's surrounded by the hell is happening? This is Mario, my sacred place, this is my temple? What are you people doing in here?

But Bobby and Tony are undeterred. They explain that they're just there, I mean, and maybe this is somewhat progressive, or maybe this is you know, this is interesting that they admit this, that both of them they're just not mature enough to go on with the situation as it is. Even though they both declare that they prepared for her answer, they keep interrupting her response and ask to mull it over, ask her to mull it over some more and after and Alex decides enough is enough and leaves the bar he's done. While Janet is pondering her decision, Tony and Bobby hash out their differences finally, and they apologize for their behavior towards each other. Finally, Janet comes over, and again she starts to deliver her verdict, but Bobby stops her.

He says, no matter what her decision, one of them is going to be hurt. So he says he doesn't want to hear her decision. He says that his friendship to Tony is more important to him than that and Janet understandably is frustrated by this that neither of them want to continue dating her, so she gives them a piece of her mind, which I think is warranted in this case, she says, she correctly points out to them that neither one seems to care about how she feels about this and what her decision is going to be. But regardless, she agrees that she doesn't want to come between two friends. But then just before she leaves, she can't help digging the knife in to get back to them, To get back at them a little bit, she does say that whomever she chose would have the time of their life that evening, which crushes the both of them.

They're pained to hear this, and as a little button to the scene, she even goes against their tacit agreement by saying she was going to choose Bobby, which sends Bobby into this comical crying tantrum. It's all very embarrassing in a way. They're both losers, but in a truer, realer way, Wheeler is the big loser. Wheeler is the big loser. He really is because traded doors at the like let's make a deal, yeah, man, He took to a number three that was that was a bad move.

You know what here here, it's supposed to be this happy ending between these friends, like you know, they put everything aside, put anything aside. These two don't trust each other to throw each other. They couldn't have simply just said I'm good if you and if you like him better, I'll be the rational adult and I wish you well. No, we have to fucking hate each other. Yeah, yeah, they have to try to one up each other through the whole episode and finally you know, but but the worst part of it is they never give one ounce of thought towards how Janet feels about this and what her wishes are, who she wants to continue today, or if she's just happy with the way things are all together.

They don't care. To them, she's nothing more than an object. So they're getting what they deserve, especially Bobby. Here's how the episode could have been redeemed. She goes to the door and says ready baby, She opens the no says ready baby, and Luis says come on, and then they leave.

That would have been fitting a fitting end to these two arguing through the whole episode. So that's the end. Of the the a plot. There's a bumper here, which I'm not going to get into it. It's it's basically finally Elaine gets Alex to go to the dentist, but not before he tries to pretend that nothing's wrong and Hardy har horror.

He finally decides enough to enough and he goes. So that's it. That's the end of the episode. Ray He's yeah, he pretends that it's not painful at all, and then it's so painful that he rips the arm off a chair. Yeah, which some good FOLI work, it must be said, like I really believe, Yeah, I really believe that he ripped the armrest off of that chair because it looked like it was pretty solid.

So anyway, that's the that's the end of this episode. Now, as is our we're going to talk about yellow lights. What doesn't yellow light mean? Reminder, we're scoring on a scale from one yellow light to five yellow lights. One yellow light being a terrible episode and five yellow lights the best taxi episode.

As is also our custom, we're going to start with you, father Malone, What do you give a woman between friends? It's a streak this season in season two, giving it two yellow lights. I think this is the second or third episode in a row. Maybe I can't really recommend this one. It's not worth a watch.

What's worth that? Well, let me back up for a minute. I will tell you I gave this one yellow light. Yeah. I found this very inconsequential, not especially funny.

It had a feeling I keep saying this, but it had a feeling of a typical sitcom sibling rivalry episode, like something out of Different Strokes or or facts of life. But in your case, what's worth that extra yellow light? We get a full dose of Kaufman here without without having to involve them in the show in any real way, which is lovely. And there are little good bits here and there. I don't know.

When it comes to this, I'm hesitant to give it a one yellow light because that is basically like actively saying don't watch it. I won't say don't watch this episode. But I think there are a couple of charms here and there, some bits that made me laugh. You make some good points, and I'm going to change my score. I'm gonna give it two yellow lights.

You've convinced me, because if I were to give it one yellow light, you're right, I would be saying, don't see this episode, don't take the time to watch it. If it comes on TV, turn the channel. I can't say it's that bad. I wouldn't necessarily seek it out on its own, but I can see your point. I guess it's not the worst episode, but it's pretty close.

So I changed my mind. I'm going to give it two yellow lights. And you know, at the very least you get to see Nardo cementing her plans for the future of Sunshine Cab Now sorry, she's making her Machiavelian sort of machinations. Dark dark Nardo. That's something that that therapist.

I don't trust that guy. He's putting all sorts of thoughts into her head. She was never the same after that. Once she got her eyes on that painting, she was never the same. Is it like a night gallery situation where it has powers that hypnotizes her?

Absolutely? Rod Serling was in that episode. Remember, So that'll do it for this episode of night mister Walters father alone. Where can the folks find you when you're not clocked into the garage? You can find me pretty much primarily at midnight viewing, which is the horror anthology podcast, but it's also Midnight Viewing Anthology Attack, which is anthology stuff that is in horror.

And there's also Father Malone's Weekly round Up where I look at current stuff. That's a weekly show. So it's actually Midnight Viewing is now a twice weekly show. I'd take over to Weirdingwaymedia dot Com or any podcatcher of choice Midnight Viewing you'll find me there nice and for myself, you can find me in the same nooks and crannies. I'm on the weirding Way network as well.

I've popped up occasionally here and there on the Culture Cast with Christashue. I've also appeared here and there with my esteemed colleague Father Malone, and in fact I've been on that wrap up show. Had some fun with that, and of course, as is my custom, I will entreat you to go seek out Dark Destinations, also by Father Malone, because great storytelling, wonderful wonderful production, you can't go wrong. The best part of it is the music, which is hb ah come on now. So anyway, thanks again for listening.

Please feel free to subscribe to the podcast, write a review or rate us. We'd love to hear from you in any way you see fit for myself and for father alone. Thanks again and we'll see you next time. Hik mister