DaddyCat: I agree w/ you in that CBS' Monday comedies in the 80's were their equivalent to NBC's 'Must See Thursday'. Besides Kate & Allie, you could also see Newhart and Murphy Brown among others. All extremely funny shows.
I disagree on one point, though. K & A weren't so high-income. Kate had lived the boho lifestyle before her divorce and had only recently begun work as a travel agent, and though Allie had a rich ex, most of her ex's $ efforts went to his mistress/eventual 2nd wife (who was played rather wonderfully bitchy by Wendy Malick). Plus, K & A collectively had 3 mouths to feed and clothe and educate. If you want further info on the show and its background, go
here.
xita: I will gladly recap the ep for you now.
As fans of the show know, Kate (Susan St. James) & Allie (Jane Curtin) are two divorcees who live together in a basement-level apt. with Kate's daughter Emma (Ari Meyers), and Allie kids, Chip (Frederick Koehler) and Jennie (Allison Smith, whom I severely crushed on in H.S.). In the ep in ?, the landlady stops by one day and she notices that there are two families living there which, apparently for an apt. that size, violates city code. The landlady tells K & A that one of the families msut move out w/in a certain time or an eviction will follow. In a panic, K & A start looking for bigger apts. but they're all too expensive. While checking one out, Kate comes up w/ an idea. They can both stay together in their current apt. if they claim to be a lesbian couple. Allie's not too hot for this idea, but Kate eventually convinces her it's they way to go; this culminates w/ Allie grabbing Kate by the neck and screaming out "Kiss me!, while unbeknowst to them the apt. bldgs old handyman is in the doorway watching them. He then says, "I think I'll go upstairs" in an rather flustered manner and immediately excuses himself.
When the landlady drops by the next time, K & A give her the ruse that they're a happily gay couple. The landlady is unusually thrilled to hear this and tells them they can stay in the apt. together. Later on, she stops by again, this time w/ another woman. It turns out the landlady
is a lesbian and has brought her "domestic partner" by wondering if they can all have dinner together sometime. Temporarily flummoxed by this revelation, K & A agree wondering how they'll keep the ruse going. The thing is, they haven't to their kids about it, so when all 7 eat together K & A have to act all lovey-dovey, and the kids have no idea what the heck is going on. I don't remember much after that, but apparently much embarrasment and hilarity ensued. Ultimately, everything works out in the usual sitcom-y way. At the end the lesbian pair and K & A go to an all-female dance club together and the 2 straight women have a gay-ol-time dancing w/ each other. The show ends w/ Kate even giving Allie a dip.
So there you have it. Actually, after all this descriptiveness, I found the Episode Information
here. Incidentally the director of this ep, Bill Persky, wrote a lot for "The Dick Van Dyke Show", so the comedy background was stellar for this show.
JJtheCool
*Sigh*Edited by: JJtheCool at: 9/14/03 12:55 am