Brenda moves in across the street, Al moves her couch, and Brenda tells him he is cute. That is all it takes. Word travels, the women of the neighborhood begin finding reasons to need something lifted, and Al, who has spent four and a half seasons being told what he is worth, decides he has been undervalued and starts attending to his physique.
Peg’s response is the line the episode is built around. She tells him, explicitly as both his wife and his friend, that nobody likes him. It is delivered with real warmth, which is what makes it funny and also what makes it land.
The B plot is Bud and Kelly attempting to repair the doorbell, and it produces the best physical gag of the season. Bud asks twice whether the power is off, is assured that it is, goes outside with a screwdriver, and the house lights flicker while he screams. He walks back in smouldering, soot-faced, perfectly calm, and asks his sister to spell the word off.
This is also the end of a running joke. Jade, the customer who had been turning up at Gary’s Shoes since season 2 to tell Al she wanted him, appears here for the fourth and final time. The episode belongs to a small group in which Al is briefly, accidentally desirable, and the show is always careful about how it ends them. He never cheats, nothing happens, and the attention evaporates. What he actually wanted was never the women across the street. It was for somebody to say he was worth looking at, and the only person who could have said it is the one who tells him nobody likes him.
Episode Facts
- Original air date: November 18, 1990
- Season 5, Episode 9, and the 89th episode of the series
- Final appearance of Jade
- Written by Kevin Curran
- Directed by Gerry Cohen
Guest Cast
- Rhonda Shear as Brenda Kostrowski
- Teri Weigel as Jade
- Sherrie Rose as Mandi
- Lucy Filippone as Athena
- Rhonda Britten as Donna
Nobody Likes You, Said Kindly
Jade was played by Teri Weigel across four episodes between season 2 and here, and the joke never varied: a woman offers herself to Al and he turns her down because he is married.
Peggy volunteers that a garbage man once tucked the infant Kelly into bed because Peg wanted to watch her soap opera.
Kelly reveals that Bud operates a telephone alias, Senior Pablo, UN Diplomat, and runs it on Al’s credit card.
Peggy tells Marcy that Al wears Hanes white briefs, size 34, bought in packs of three. This is one of the few episodes in which Peg does any food shopping for him.
Famous Quotes
- Al: “After I moved Brenda’s couch, she said I was cute. Oh Peg, I think she likes me!” The beginning.
- Peggy: “I’m telling you this as your wife and as your friend. No one likes you!” The end.
- Bud: “Now you’re sure the power’s off?” Kelly: “For the thousandth time, yes the power is off.” Before.
- Bud: “Kelly, spell Off.” After.
Notes
- Goof: Kelly says she heard about Al from the neighborhood women, having been indoors with Bud the whole time.
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