Issues With "Tell it Like it Is" (Carol Writes The Magazine Article)

[Jack1000]

Originally Posted by James

While "A Fistful of Reasons" was a great episode, why did they have it written into the script in "Tell It Like It Is" (Carol writes an article for Tomorrow's Woman) that Peter was in another fight with Buddy? I thought "AFOR" signaled the end of their status as enemies.

It's no wonder "Tell It Like It Is" is one of my least favorite episodes.

The writers probably needed a quick solution to give Peter a problem when he came home from school while the Tomorrow's Woman staffers were at the house. Most likely, they couldn't come up with anything, and someone remembered "Fistfull of Reasons" and said, "Let's say Peter gets a black eye cuz he gets into another fight with Buddy Hinton." Sometimes bullies don't change thier spots, so for me the scene works.

While "Tell it Like it is" is light years away from the brilliant "Her Sister's Shadow" or "Bobby's Hero." it's not exactly "A Word From Our Sponsor" (Safe laundrey soap/Skip Farnam vomit) or "You're Never Too Old" (Mike and Carol=GRANDPARENTS!!!??????) either. My problem with "Tell it Like it Is" isn't Carol's interest to try to write an article about the family. Fine by me. Even her excitment when Mr. Delafield calls to tell her that he wants to publish her story is ok.

Where the script goes downhill is Alice budding her nose in (a-la June Cleaver) when Carol is trying to arrange a date and time for the staffers to visit the house when talking to Mr, Delefield on the phone. Don't be rude Alice, let Carol finish her call and set up the time. Carol forgetting what time the staffers were to arrive at the house is also unbelivable. She could have certainly written down the time on a note pad. She wouldn't forget something such as the staff's time to arrive when it was a big deal to have her story published.

Maybe they needed Alice to "butt-in" (out of character for her) so that Carol could forget about the time causing the "Murphy's Law" to go into effect when the staff arrives. But it seems to be overdone. I am sure that Robert Reed had a few words about Alice bumping into him while getting the sandwich platter as he comes in with the flowers. I think the writers needed something BIG to sustain interest for the story line. It's one of the scripts, along with "The Great Earing Caper" that doesn't have the happiest of endings, which is ok.

Jack

[sixfingers]

Originally Posted by Jack1000

...
It's one of the scripts, along with "The Great Earing Caper" that doesn't have the happiest of endings, which is ok.

Jack

I'm curious as to what you mean by that, do you mean the script as originally written, or are you talking about the finished episode?

What is unhappy about Carol getting to publish her story as she first wrote it?