Season 3 Episode 10: I’ll See You in Court

This is the lost episode. Filmed on January 6, 1989 and scheduled for the third season, it was never broadcast in the United States at the time: the producers and FOX’s censors could not reach an agreement in the atmosphere created by the Rakolta boycott, and the episode was shelved. It aired elsewhere in the world in 1989 and became known to American fans by reputation only for thirteen years, until FX finally showed it on June 18, 2002.

The premise is why. The Bundys and the Rhoades discover a hidden camera in a motel room and find themselves in court over it, which requires the court to view the recordings, which means both couples watching footage of the other. Al’s reaction to seeing Steve and Marcy is amusement rather than horror, a notable outlier, given that “Banking on Marcy” later has him made physically ill by merely hearing Marcy, and season six’s “The Egg and I” renders him temporarily blind at the sight of her.

It is a good episode and the shelving is hard to justify on content alone; the series aired considerably more provocative material before and after. What it ran into was timing, arriving in the middle of the only serious commercial pressure the show ever faced.

Lillian Lehman, who plays the judge, has played judges across a long list of series including L.A. Law, Seinfeld and The Closer, and David Garrison went on to play a lawyer turned judge in four episodes of Law & Order. Two of the jurors had appeared earlier in the season among the Elvis pilgrims in “I’m Going to Sweatland,” and the painting above the motel bed was previously seen on Sanford and Son.

Episode Facts

• Filmed January 6, 1989 and scheduled for February 19, 1989, then pulled from the US schedule
• First US broadcast: June 18, 2002, on FX, thirteen years later
• Season 3, Episode 10, and the 45th episode of the series
• Written by Jeanne Baruch and Jeanne Romano
• Directed by Gerry Cohen

Guest Cast

• Lillian Lehman as the judge
• Ken Thorley as the jury foreman
• Lora Zane as Ms. Weigel

The Lost Episode

Peg talks Al into a night at the Hop-On-Inn, and in the room they find a videotape of Steve and Marcy. The motel has been recording its guests. Steve takes both families to court, the jury awards the Rhoades ten thousand dollars and the Bundys nothing, having decided their encounter never actually happened, and Al settles the matter on the judge’s bench while the courtroom cameras are still running.

This is the episode the producers called the lost one. It was shot, finished, and then shelved in the middle of the Terry Rakolta boycott, which had kicked off over Her Cups Runneth Over earlier the same season. FOX Standards and Practices had already asked for fifteen script changes before it was taped. It aired internationally in 1990 while the US never saw it, and when FX finally ran it in 2002 four lines were still cut.

So the single most notorious episode of the series is also the one almost nobody saw on first broadcast. Worth watching with that context in mind, because by current standards it is tame, and the boycott is the reason it exists in this state at all.

Famous Quotes

• Al: “Well, Peg, I’m showered and ready to go to work and edge ever closer to the grave. Wish me luck.” His morning greeting.
• Peggy: “I wanna have sex on the kitchen table!” / Al: “I wanna have a meal on the kitchen table… Learn to live without. I did.”
• Al: “I think I know what’s going on here; the chocolates in the car, the oil on my zipper… you want sex, don’t you?” / Peggy: “No, I want a fur coat, but I’ll take what’s behind zipper number one.”
• Peggy: “Look, Al, I want sex! Do you want to be conscious, or not?” Negotiating at the Hop On Inn.
• Peggy: “OK, Al, pop in the movie, pop in a breath mint and let’s coax the mummy out of his crypt!” / Al: “I don’t want to have sex! You’re my wife, for God’s sake! Hasn’t having the kids taught you anything?! Nothing good comes of it!”

Notes

• FOX Standards and Practices requested fifteen changes to the script before taping.
• The Perry Mason theme plays under the opening statement, and Al calls Steve “Mr. Darrow” after Clarence Darrow.
• Released on home video twice: the Most Outrageous Episodes Volume 1 disc in February 2003, and the Complete Season 3 set in January 2007.
• Goof: the courtroom clock shows inconsistent times, no witness is ever sworn in despite the dialogue referencing an oath, the motel owner never testifies, and no closing argument is given.
• Goof: Peg puts the videotape in without turning on the television or pressing play.