Honestly, I don't even think it was a 'B' story. It was almost off-handedly mentioned in passing. Like they had decided to make her a lawyer again and had new scripts coming up with her as a lawyer. And their idea of continuity (which as Jack pointed out was not too good) was to add a line into this other script (it must have been Really Full House) that the diner was being sued, presumably by a customer, and that she was using her legal knowledge. It did all happen off-screen. And we were not even told if the diner won or lost, or if this meant Marsha was representing the plaintiff or the diner. As I showed in my brief story idea, I think there should have been an episode where it was the 'A' plot involving Marsha and the other diner workers and patrons. The viewers needed a better explanation and a better resolution/transition for Marsha back to her legal career. They also changed the name from Legal Hut to something that sounded similar. They should have just had her go back to her old job at Legal Hut with a raise. Or maybe this is where she could have gone to work at a high-priced firm and permanently made a go of it.
I enjoy Ilene's singing on the program, and I didn't have a problem with Marsha being a singing waitress, because it was kind of fun. And like I said, she could have been undergoing a mid-life crisis. But it did have to be a short-term storyline because the Marsha Owens we knew who spent those first few seasons studying and passing her bar exam would never give up completely on being an attorney.
Personally, I think the singing waitress story might have worked as a dream episode, or a short arc over maybe two or three episodes. But they stretched it out over most of season 5, then at the last minute decided to do a rewrite and make her a lawyer again. So yes, that is a bit of a continuity problem and it showed Marsha as being inconsistent and unstable.
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Edermike
10 years ago
If I get a chance tonight I'll go back and check the episode, but off the top of my head I can make a few corrections. There were details provided about the case. They did mention the diner being sued because of something like a hair net being in someone's chili. They did say she was helping the diner but lost the case. They do say she rekindled her passion for law and got a job with a nice law firm. I think she got offered the job either through the case or found it right after. That might even be the next episode.
They did everything quickly and off screen, but they did cover details. Should screen time have been devoted to this? Sure, because they did devote so much time to it previously. There wasn't which is why the confusion abounds, but they didn't make her seem exactly unstable. They just kind of put it out there and moved on.
I might have said this before but it was Kevin wanting to be a male nurse in "Kevin Nightingale", and then it never coming up again except for one sentence literally that was the series biggest head scratcher. Now that was the "dream" episode and notably one of the first to have a weird music montage.
As far as Ilene singing, mainly I didn't think it fit the show because they usually didn't come up with a way for it to be funny. I thought it was fun in "Debut", and I guess kind of funny in "Paper Mill" as part of the weird dream. I still thought the waitress thing was kind of bizarre and it didn't make me laugh. Now a singing lawyer...no too much like "Cop Rock"!
The drumming was always kind of a background thing, and the one episode that featured it was the truly funny "Valentine's Day".
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jackgriffin1-1
10 years ago
Ilene was certainly a better singer than Eucker. His lounge act ep was truly strange.
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Edermike
10 years ago
Ok I went back to my DVD's I made off the recent airings. Marsha get's the singing waitress job in "Marsha's Secret". The next episode is "Duel" and Kevin Stein did one of his final scripts. It is a bizarre off beat episode and Marsha suddenly want to play a life-size mushroom in a pizza commercial. There are a lot of jokes about her sanity. She is a waitress again as of the next episode.
Now when you look at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Mr._Belvedere_episodes
Notice the numbers to the far right after each episode title. That will give you the shooting order.
Go to "Really Full House" it will tell you that it was the 17th shot for the season. Marsha tries to help the diner win a $4000 law suit against them when a hair net is found in a chili. She fails and comes in a foul mood throwing out a hillbilly family that's been beating up George, Heather, and Wesley. Funny scene.
She ends the episode as a waitress. Next up was "The Book" which was shot in season 4 and held back. She is now at Legal Hut for no explicable reason. I think most people who followed the show could tell it was show some time before the current episodes.
"The Escort" and "The Ghostwriter" come after this and other Marsha being seen with a briefcase in one scene, the job is a non issue in both these episodes. They both were shown out of the order they were shot however. The episode show right after "Really Full House" was "Almost Heaven". It would have plot wise have made more sense for it to air after "Really Full House" but it's a strong story and I can see why they held it back.
"Almost Heaven" had Marsha talking about meeting a family at the hospital where Mr. Belvedere is in a coma. They are too poor to pay their bills, but he was able to give them the correct answers as to how they could find some help. She then decides that though she makes more in tips she is joining a legal aid service. She feels glad the Porsche is gone and that she can now do what she really wanted to do, which was to help people.
So looking at all of this, and than knowing they did a whole episode about Legal Aid people coming over to eat, I really don't feel they did this character arc all that badly. More could have been on screen but it is all explained, including her state of mind. She says seeing what happened to Belvedere helped her make some strong choices. It all makes sense.
What I want to know is why does Angela have the last name Gilbert in the episode "Spot" and then have "Stantolovich" sic in "Homecoming?
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jackgriffin1-1
10 years ago
Actually Angela's last name is Shostakovitch, like the Russian composer, which I find hysterical.
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jarrodmcdonald-1
10 years ago
Thanks for your careful detective work. You have been looking at the episodes in a much more specific way (and I thought I was being specific, but you have me beat!).
The reason I feel they should have done an episode with Marsha's job at the diner ending as a main plot is because if the viewer misses the hairnet in the chili references, and then tunes in the following week to see the next episode (back when it was first-run on ABC), I am sure it gets confusing for the audience. It is already confusing when the network airs them out of order.
In another thread, I felt that 'Black Widow' worked fine in season 5 (it was a season 4 leftover). But 'The Book' definitely should have been put back with the season 4 offerings in syndication. Some of these continuity issues can be addressed and a lessening of confusion can be accomplished if they are put in the right order. I haven't made discs of these shows yet, but when I do, I am definitely going to let them pile up on my DVR, then be very strategic about how I record them over to disc so they are in an order that makes better sense. I also think I might move a few later episodes up. Like I think there is too big a gap between the Mrs. Checchini episodes. So the one where we have the Scooby Doo plot of her trying to spook Kevin, I will probably move it up closer to the one where she is first introduced back in season 5. I don't think there will be any continuity errors with this or the subplot if I move it up.
As for Angela's last name, I don't know the answer to it. You would think the actress who played the character would have said something to the director or the writers that her last name had been previously established in earlier episodes.
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Edermike
10 years ago
If you use Wikipedia to put them back in the order they were produced they would play much smoother. I put them in the airing order so they would be close to what an official set would be.
After waiting some five years for them to come out officially with no luck I am astonished that seasons 5 and 6 are being shown uncut with all the lost episodes and even some bumpers. Those little voice overs that cut to commercials aren't even on the season 1-4 DVD's.
Ah I didn't remember Shostakovitch the composer until your reminder so I missed the joke. I guess since "Gilbert" was only on a background sign in the "Spot" episode everyone forgot about it.
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jarrodmcdonald-1
10 years ago
Yes, I think the production order helps considerably. But like I said, I would keep 'Black Widow' with the season 5 batch, and I would move up the second Mrs. Checchini episode from season 6 to season 5.
Also, as I think about it, there seems to be too long of a gap between Wendy's wedding and Wendy's return with her husband. So I might put most of the Casey episodes together to make it more of an arc, then that will bring Wendy back sooner to finish that storyline.
I am toying with the idea of putting all the ones with Kevin and his apartment on a separate disc, because since they are using different sets and mostly a different supporting cast, it seems like a separate show.
Lastly I think I would put the one with Belvedere and Wesley in the attic flashing back at the tail end of season 6, right before Belvedere gets married.
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jackgriffin1-1
9 years ago
And her middle name was Raskolnikov like the protagonist in Crime and Punishment!! I love it!!
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