Brutal Episode: Arnold Gets a Draft Letter

[WalterTheDrinker]

This episode was on ANT-TV last night, and it was terrible:

When 13-year-old Arnold is notified to register for the draft, Drummond's over reaction to the obvious error turns Arnold's dreams into nightmares.

1. Drummond's overreaction made no sense. He had to produce Arnold's birth certificate and fill out a form to prove the letter was a mistake. Big deal. Instead, Drummond starts screaming in a government office that he'd rather "ROT IN JAIL" than do that! And then he calls a press conference in his home. Seriously?

2. The episode goes to commercial when the FBI agents identify themselves at the Drummond house. Seems like things are getting serious, right? Well, as soon as the commercial break is over, Drummond introduces Arnold to the FBI agents, and they immediately realize the letter was a mistake. Completely false conflict setup.

3. Arnold's nightmare was cringe-worthy to watch. Just totally stupid. It was one of those opportunities many sitcoms have taken to put all the cast members in costumes and make them act out-of-character. And that never comes out good. This one was clearly a time-filler because the writers didn't have a 22-minute episode plot. (They barely had a 5-minute plot.)

It was definitely a writer's block episode. The show's writing staff probably couldn't come up with anything and had to put something on the air. I couldn't wait until it was over.

[JLThorpe]

Originally Posted by WalterTheDrinker

2. The episode goes to commercial when the FBI agents identify themselves at the Drummond house. Seems like things are getting serious, right? Well, as soon as the commercial break is over, Drummond introduces Arnold to the FBI agents, and they immediately realize the letter was a mistake. Completely false conflict setup.

And the FBI agents took Drummond at his word. Shouldn't he have showed Arnold's birth certificate to them as well? How do they know Arnold was really Arnold? For all they know, Mr. Drummond could have been showing them another kid and draft-dodging Arnold was hiding up in Canada.

[TVFactFan]

I agree stupid episode topic and was not one of my favorites

[WalterTheDrinker]

Originally Posted by JLThorpe

And the FBI agents took Drummond at his word. Shouldn't he have showed Arnold's birth certificate to them as well? How do they know Arnold was really Arnold? For all they know, Mr. Drummond could have been showing them another kid and draft-dodging Arnold was hiding up in Canada.

Good point. And given that the show made a long-running gag out of "THAT's your son???" it was especially strange that they would just take Drummond at his word.

When Drummond blew a gasket in the government office, he also went on a mini-tirade about computers. That was a big thing in pop culture in the early '80s, too -- distrust of computers. And it was awkwardly shoehorned into this weak episode.

[BigManMike]

I remember seeing this one on Antenna TV back in November, and the guy that played Mr. Cribbs, Ken Olfson, also played Mr. Townsend, a food critic, in a Season 8 episode of Three's Company. I totally recognized him when I saw him on Diff'rent Strokes. Unfortunately, he died at the end of 1997 at the age of only 60.

[TVFactFan]

Originally Posted by thebigcookie

I remember seeing this one on Antenna TV back in November, and the guy that played Mr. Cribbs, Ken Olfson, also played Mr. Townsend, a food critic, in a Season 8 episode of Three's Company. I totally recognized him when I saw him on Diff'rent Strokes. Unfortunately, he died at the end of 1997 at the age of only 60.

That actor appeared to be GAY not that there's anything wrong with that

[70s show watcher]

i have always hated that ep it was just plain stupid and a perfect example of what gary meant when he once said that the last few years the writers were just cranking out product instaed of really caring about the quality of the scripts

[Snortles]

Originally Posted by JLThorpe

And the FBI agents took Drummond at his word. Shouldn't he have showed Arnold's birth certificate to them as well? How do they know Arnold was really Arnold? For all they know, Mr. Drummond could have been showing them another kid and draft-dodging Arnold was hiding up in Canada.

Yes, good point. Plus, Mr. Drummond would have saved everyone (including himself) much time & trouble if he had simply fetched Arnold's birth certificate from his safe deposit box and shown it to the draft officer. He instead went to the lengths of losing his head at the draft office, holding a press conference, scaring Arnold, being visited by the FBI, etc. ... whereas it was a very simple problem with a very simple solution.

Weak plot. Weak episode.

[biffbronson]

This basic idea was lifted from The Partridge Family, where Danny got a draft notice.

[JLThorpe]

Originally Posted by biffbronson

This basic idea was lifted from The Partridge Family, where Danny got a draft notice.

I thought Diff'rent Strokes only lifted its plots from The Brady Bunch?

[ThomasE]

Originally Posted by JLThorpe

I thought Diff'rent Strokes only lifted its plots from The Brady Bunch?

That's what I thought too...but then they exhausted all the possible Brady Story Lines.