Well it's finally happened! In working my way through season 2 I found an episode that I really don't care for: "Patty and the Peace Corps."

It is pretty far-fetched, even for the Patty Duke Show.

-Why would she scream several times when she got the letter from the Peace Corps and then hide it?
-Cathy called Africa a "country."
-How did Patty afford all those African items?
-She learned Swahili and read several books in a couple of days. The Swahili phrases she learned were American slang. How did Cathy find those in a book?
-She knew several African dances. How?
-What was that jungle-gym thing Patty tried to work-out on?
-Ross found a green salamander in about 30 seconds, then he said "Boy, you don't know the trouble I went through getting it."
-Patty wore a wild-looking wig while she was dancing.
-How could Patty be a volunteer nurse? Candy-striper, maybe, but nurse?
-If Richard was picking her up for her Thursday job at the hospital, why did Poppo ask if she was going to see the orphans? Patty acted like that's where she was going instead of the hospital.
-If Richard was there to pick Patty up, why did she waste time folding blankets while he was waiting?
-Why didn't Patty's parents know anything about all of her volunteer work? She was usually a bigmouth who told them everything. She would have at least had to explain where she was going.
-One look at Petey Peterson and you can see he's too old to "eat books." That's what babies do.
-How did Patty afford to bring the orphans books and records?

There were just too many ridiculous things about this episode that I would have to give it a thumbs down. :thumbsdow :( ohno:

I think this was one of the most hilarious episodes, This is one of many episodes where Patty and her determination usually over takes her. It is obvious when her and Cathy's room is decorated in an African theme that Patty has taken the Peace corps thing to far....:crazy:

The bone necklace and tiger print cape is just too funny....:lol:

I'll have to look at this episode a little differently when I get to it. I remember it as being an OK episode but now I'm not so sure. :lol:

I'll have to look at this episode a little differently when I get to it. I remember it as being an OK episode but now I'm not so sure. :lol:

It's just my opinion. Maybe everyone else likes it! I thought the writers were kind of sloppy with this one.

I can't say there are episodes I really don't like, there are probably a few I don't like as well as the others. If I have a gripe about the show, it's with how the character of Patty's boyfriend Richard is portrayed. He comes off as rather dopey, not seemingly the type of guy Patty would be attracted to. Maybe the writers thought it would be cute for Patty's boyfriend to be a goofball.

I can't say there are episodes I really don't like, there are probably a few I don't like as well as the others. If I have a gripe about the show, it's with how the character of Patty's boyfriend Richard is portrayed. He comes off as rather dopey, not seemingly the type of guy Patty would be attracted to. Maybe the writers thought it would be cute for Patty's boyfriend to be a goofball.

It's interesting how Richard started off as the captain of the football team, but by the episode Block That Statue he dropped all the way down to towel boy for the football team.

It's interesting how Richard started off as the captain of the football team, but by the episode Block That Statue he dropped all the way down to towel boy for the football team.


Good point! I thought that was weird too.

...Sidney Sheldon wrote the episode- and he wrote the majority of episodes for the series [he insisted on that privilege], as he did on "I DREAM OF JEANNIE", which he also created. The kind of story he enjoyed writing the most, was to take someone like Patty [or Tony Nelson and Jeannie], and create the stickiest situation for them to try to "wriggle" out of. In this case, it's the Peace Corps, because Patty Lane sometimes had a tendency to enter into a situation without realizing the evental consequences (as Jeannie often did when trying to "please" her "Master"). The rest is exaggeration; if the wig Patty wears while attempting an "African" dance makes her look more ridiculous, the better! And if Patty wants to "go African" in her bedroom as a result, she does [how could she afford all those decorations? Don't ask! This is a TV show]. The part where Ross finds the salamander in 30 seconds, and says, "Boy, you don't know the trouble I went through getting it!"; that's the joke. It would be the same as this sample exchange [again, from "JEANNIE"]:

TONY: [entering his living room, looking around] Jeannie?
[Jeannie appears before him, somewhat exhausted]
JEANNIE: (a bit startled) Oh, Master! I did not know you had returned home so early...{sighing} Oh, I have had such a day cleaning the house!
TONY: How long did it take you?
JEANNIE: Fourteen seconds!
TONY: You're a little slow today. You usually do it in eight.
JEANNIE: Oh, I know, but I had to.......

You get the idea. But don't look for this particular exchange in any episode- I wrote it.


As for Richard, he's usually level-headed. But not when he's involved with Patty or one of her "schemes"...besides, it's not funny if he's captain of the football team. ANY high school girl would gladly fall in love with one of those. IF, however, one happens to be the team's "water boy"....then, only someone like Patty would make him feel like he's "special"...you could create an entire episode involving Richard trying to return to his "former" position as team captain- only Patty manages to screw it up for him through a) a rumor; b) an injury he gets from making the mistake of "practicing" with her; or c)the unexpected twist where SHE becomes "team captain", and he's very unhappy about it!


:read:

I wasn't too keen on the Peace Corps episode either. The script rendered Patty Lane too uncharacteristically silly. Although the series often relates how Patty was, ahem, a far cry from Cathy in the scholarly department, Patty was still always a pretty clever gal in the street-smarts sense. Wacky? Yep, a bit. Scheming? Yep, a bit. Egotistical? Yep, a bit. But clearly, she was no dumb-bunny. The Peace Corps episode and one or two others somewhat belied this, undermining the character for the sake of quick laughs, it seemed. The results were rather unsatisfying.

However, if I was to pinpoint one episode that tends to bug me, it is "Patty, the People's Voice," from right around the same time. It's the episode in which Patty and Cathy switch their allegiance from one political candidate to another. Not that the episode is entirely bad, as it does have a number of amusing scenes. But it's nonetheless curiously aggravating to me. The script is too pat, too cardboard, with the candidates presented as bland, annoying stereotypes. The episode desperately needed some kind of twist. Like having the initial friend-of-the-family candidate being a likeable handsome blade who turns out to be clueless, and the opponent being unassuming but very civically aware. Or have Patty and Cathy switch allegiances to the youthful, handsome opponent, only to later find him lacking. Just some kind of clever twist to give the story some impact. As it was, the whole episode played like a stacked deck, with the course already dictated by tired stereotypes. It made the episode somewhat grating.