Season 1 Episode 8: The Poker Game

Al invites Steve to a poker game with his friends and Steve loses his entire paycheck across the table, which leaves him to explain the situation to Marcy. Al’s position is that the game was fair and the money is his. Marcy wants it back, Peggy joins the campaign, and the episode becomes a two-day standoff over whether a debt honestly won from a neighbour is a debt that ought to be collected.

The episode is a landmark for an unusual reason: it is the only one in the entire run without Bud, and the first without Kelly. Neither David Faustino nor Christina Applegate appears, which leaves the half-hour entirely to the four adults and Al’s friends, and it works, which is an early sign of how much weight the two couples could carry on their own. The timeline is unusually precise for this series, too: Al confirms the first half is a Friday, and the second half is clearly the Saturday, with Steve turning up at the shoe store to report on how his evening went after the game.

It is also the episode that introduces Al’s friends. E.J., Russ and Barney appear here for the first time; E.J. never returns, Russ comes back once more in season three’s “Requiem for a Dead Barber,” and Barney is the only one of the three who survives into the NO MA’AM era. Garrett Morris, who plays Russ, had worked with David Garrison on It’s Your Move, the sitcom created by this show’s own creators. Will Utay, the man Al and Steve give money to, returns in season ten as Dean Marquand.

Episode Facts

• Original air date: May 24, 1987
• Season 1, Episode 8, and the 8th episode of the series
• Written by Ron Leavitt and Michael G. Moye
• Directed by Brian Levant

Guest Cast

• Garrett Morris as Russ
• Steve Susskind as Barney
• Frank Lloyd as Norris
• James Lashly as E.J.
• Sue Ann Gilfillan as Lisa
• William Utay as the bum

The Only Episode Without Bud

Al takes Steve to poker night at Russ’s apartment, where Steve announces he has figured out the rhythm of the game, tells everyone exactly what he is holding, and loses three hundred dollars he had already promised Marcy for the mortgage. Al’s advice on how to handle that is the funniest thing in the episode and the worst advice in the series.

This is the only episode of all 258 in which Bud Bundy does not appear, and it is also the first without Kelly. Both kids are gone, so the half hour runs entirely on the two couples and Al’s friends, which is why it feels structurally unlike anything else in season 1.

It introduces Al’s poker circle, and the three of them went very different ways. E.J. is never seen again. Russ returns once, in season 3’s “Requiem for a Dead Barber.” Barney is the only one to survive into the NO MA’AM era, which starts in No Ma’am. Peg gets a poker night of her own in Buck Saves the Day.

Famous Quotes

• Al: “If you want a perfect woman, you’ve gotta build her in your head. You know, it gives you something to do when you’re making love to your wife.” The thesis statement of the whole poker scene.
• Steve: “At the bank we have a little saying: if you want to save money, save money.” Steve’s financial expertise, moments before he loses his paycheck.
• Marcy: “Oh, wait! We need a brain.” Peggy: “Why? It’s a man.” The wives building their own perfect specimen at the kitchen table.
• Lisa: “I want something that goes with this dress.” Al: “A bubbling cauldron?” Customer service at Gary’s Shoes.

Notes

• Garrett Morris had worked with David Garrison before, on the 1984 NBC sitcom It’s Your Move, which was also created by Ron Leavitt and Michael G. Moye. Morris played the principal who was the boss of Garrison’s character.
• William Utay, the bum Al and Steve give money to, returns in the season 10 episode “Bud Hits the Books” as Dean Marquand.
• The first half takes place on a Friday and the second on a Saturday, which the dialogue pins down rather than leaving vague.
• Barney’s last appearance is in “The Legend of Ironhead Haynes.”
• The production code shows this was the tenth episode produced and the eighth aired.