Season 2 Episode 12: Earth Angel

Bud brings home Tiffany, an aspiring artist passing through Chicago on her way to art school in New York, and installs her in the house. She is attractive, free-spirited and entirely without side, and every member of the household takes to her, which is the problem, because she takes the attention that normally belongs to Marcy. The episode is one of the first to make Marcy’s need to be the most interesting woman in the neighbourhood into a plot rather than a character note.

What gives the half-hour its warmth is how uncomplicated Tiffany is. She does not want anything from the Bundys, is not scheming, and treats the house as a pleasant place to pass through, which nobody in it has ever experienced before. The series would bring in outsiders repeatedly over eleven years and almost always use them as a threat; this early version is closer to a brief holiday for everybody except the woman next door.

The episode is a minor landmark for Al’s social circle. Four of his friends turn up to work in the back yard, and this is the only appearance of two of them, Larry and Dennis: Norris and Barney had already appeared and kept turning up for years. Larry is played by Gene LeBell, the martial artist and stunt performer, who returned to the series several times in both speaking and non-speaking roles. Al also establishes that Thursday is his bowling night, a fact the show weaponised six seasons later in “NO MA’AM,” when the Masculine Feminist turned Thursdays into ladies’ night.

Episode Facts

• Original air date: December 6, 1987
• Season 2, Episode 12, and the 25th episode of the series
• Written by Ellen L. Fogle
• Directed by Linda Day

Guest Cast

• Dawn Merrick as Tiffany
• Gene LeBell as Larry
• John Wesley as Dennis
• Steve Susskind as Barney
• Frank Lloyd as Norris
• Judy Kain as Sheila
• Lana Schwab as Fern

Bud Brings Home a Houseguest

The episode is a good early example of the show using a guest as a mirror: nobody in the house changes, they just all get a chance to display exactly who they are in front of a stranger. Al’s version of a welcoming question is the sharpest line in it.

Al’s bowling night is established here as Thursday, which matters much later: Thursday is the night he loses to Women’s Bowling Night in No Ma’am, and the reason NO MA’AM gets founded.

Famous Quotes

• Peg: “So, Tiffany, tell us a little something about yourself.” Al: “What Peg means is where are you from? What are your plans? When did you stop wearing a bra?” Al, hosting.
• Bud: “Remember how you always say it’s important to do nice things for other people?” Al: “I never say that, son.” Bud: “Must have been Cosby then.” Bud, sourcing his values.
• Al: “Your friends showed up, stinking of chocolates and cigarettes.” Al, reporting a riot at the bowling alley.

Notes

• The title is the 1956 doo-wop song by the Penguins.
• Larry is played by martial artist and stuntman Gene LeBell, who turned up on the show several more times.
• Of Al’s friends gathered here, this is the only appearance for Larry and Dennis. Barney and Norris stayed.
• Goof: Al leaves for bowling without a bowling bag and comes home carrying one.