Kate And Allie 31-35

 Whatever Happened To Romance? 

This episode premiered on October 14th, 1985. The lead in show was Scarecrow And Mrs. King and it was followed by The 19th Country Music Association Awards. It ran opposite Monday Night Football on ABC (Jets 23-Giants 7) and Silent Witness on NBC

Allie places an ad looking for a job but it ends up in the personals column. When they come across a romantic personal the girls decide to write to the guy and ask for a photo, and send him one of Kate. The guy wants to meet at a cafe in The Village, the girls write to him agreeing to meet so they can see him in person. When they see him at the cafe they feel bad for the guy getting stood up. The girls write the guy a letter saying their fake woman is dying. They decide to hand deliver a letter and a book of poems that are suppose to be from "Sabrina". Chip stole the letter to the girls and Kate and Allie find it. The guy wants to meet Sabrina in person, and just then Kate and Allie show up. They make the girls confess, he admits that he suspected something was up but wanted to know how the movie Camille ends. It turns out the guy met a real woman and he is going to meet her after he found out the truth about Sabrina. 

Dated References

The paper has a personal column. In the modern world people do it on line.

A personal ad has a guy who knows all the lines from Annie Hall. The movie came out in 1977 and in the modern world most people would ask "who?"

A guy responds to Allie's ad and sends a Polaroid of his "privates" an original dick-pic.

When the girls write to the personal column guy they say their favorite group is Bannarama. The girls were ahead of their time since the group wouldn't have their first top 10 song, Venus, until 1986.

The plot of this episode is based on the movies The World of Henry Orient and Camille. 

The girls rent a PO Box even though they are only 15.

In the modern world posting fake stuff on dating websites is known as Catfishing.

Evening In Paris

This episode premiered on October 21st 1985. The lead in show was Scarecrow And Mrs. King and it was followed by Newhart. It ran opposite Monday Night Football on ABC (Bears 23-Packers 7) and the movie Love On The Run on NBC

Charles and Clair were going to Paris but Clair's mother gets ill so he ask if Allie and Jen would like to go instead. On the flight Allie gets sick and they get stuck in the hotel so Allie sends Jen on a bus tour of the city. Jen meets a guy and wants to go to a party, after meeting the guy and hearing that there will be adults she agrees. Allie decides to try to go to the Eiffel Tower but falls asleep on the Metro and wakes up locked in the car in the train yard. When they return to New York Jen gets the flu. 

Dated References

Allie goes to the ATM to get $20. Today you could just use your debit card at a register plus who only gets $20?

On a personal note, the bell hop is giving Allie directions to the Eiffel Tower and I discovered that I still understand basic French. "leave the hotel, turn left and go to the metro"

Picture Of An Affair

This episode premiered on October 28th 1985. It ran in its usual time slot and opposite Monday Night Football on ABC (Raiders 34-Chargers 21) and the movie A Time To Live on NBC.

Jen and Chip are going to Charles's new house. Allie wants photos but Chip broke the back of her camera. Jen borrows her grandfather's camera and Allie is upset to see how nice the house is until she realizes that the photos are of her father in a hotel with another woman. The mysterious woman turns out to be grandfather's receptionist. Allie ignores her phone so her father drops by. He explains that he invited his receptionist and her husband to a convention in L.A. however he feels guilty and finally confesses. Kate confesses that her and Max, before they got married, broke up and she had a fling with someone in Europe. Kate locks Allie into the closet and forces her to talk to her father. He says that after he turned 60 he panicked and did a foolish thing. She decides to forgive him. 

Dated References

Allie has a 35mm film camera. 

Jen gets the photos developed before she comes home.

Allie ignores her phone in case her father is trying to call her. Today you'd use caller ID. 

The Maltese Chotchke 

This episode premiered on November 4th, 1985. It ran in its usual time slot and opposite Monday Night Football on ABC (Cardinals 21-Cowboys 10) and the movie This Child Is Mine on NBC.

It's Emma's birthday. Kate calls Max in Mexico to remind him to call, which he does in the middle of the night, and then says her present is in the mail. When the gift arrives it's an Aztec figurine but a woman from a gallery shows up and says her statue and Emma's got mixed up, however they can't get hold of Max to straighten the problem out so Kate wants to wait to switch the two. The woman says she'll contact her lawyer. A guy shows up and offers to buy the statue for $500 and warns them to be wary of a biker named The Annihilator. A biker shows up at the house and loudly bangs on the door but they hide from him and call the police. A detective tells them that both the biker and the guy offering them money are part of an art smuggling operation and he wants to take the statue and do a search, it turns out to be stolen and he wants to meet Kate at a movie theater. The detective meets them and wants to use them to set up the art thieves and a jewelry smuggler, the woman from the gallery. Everybody goes to the gallery to do the statue exchange and see the detective in the background. The detective is told that there was a mistake and the statue wasn't really stolen and they start to think that perhaps a stolen ruby is hidden in the statue. When they break open the statue they find a note from Max, everyone was an actor and he really sent her a necklace. It turns out Allie was in on the whole thing and never called the police. 

Dated References

The title and plot of this episode is a reference to the movie The Maltese Falcon. 

Chip gives Emma a lizard for her birthday. Remember the Dead Cat episode where Chip gets a cat? It disappeared after the episode.

Kate gives Emma Bruce Springsteen's bandana for her birthday. Wait, he's still a thing.

Max, Emma's father, says her present is in the mail, you could get away with that in the day since there was no on line tracking. 

Allie says Emma's birthday present looks like an ancient Aztec Cabbage Patch Doll. The mid 80's were the height of the Cabbage Patch craze. 

Emma gets a telegram, delivered to the house, from her dad. Do they even have telegrams anymore?

The police officer says "just the facts ma'am". This is a quote from the tv series Dragnet and kind of a clue about what is going on.

Geoff Pierson plays Chandler, the guy who says he's interested in buying the statue. I know him from Saving Grace and Unhappily Ever After (a Married With Children spinoff). 

Allie's Affair

This episode premiered on November 11th 1985. It ran in its usual time slot and opposite Monday Night Football on ABC (Broncos 17-49ers 16) and the movie An Early Frost on NBC.

The ladies room is out of order and a guy offers to guard the door for her, it turns out to be her English teacher, he asks her out to dinner. Things start to get serious when the professor asks her to go away for the weekend however he is only in NYC temporarily and has to go back to Ohio and Allie doesn't want to get too involved. The professor recites poetry to Allie and she give in. Everybody is getting along great with the professor. Allie has to say goodbye to the Professor but he calls and says he wants to transfer to NYC. Allie is confused, does she want to continue the relation or does she want to end the fling and not get serious. Allie goes to the airport to meet up with the professor, he confesses his love and proposes, Allie isn't sure. Allie suggests a long distance relationship until they are sure about each other. The professor gets on his plane and says he will both call and write. 

Dated References

The school has a water fountain. Do water fountains still exist?

Christa Miller plays a college student. She is best known for The Drew Carey Show, Scrubs and Cougar Town. She was 21 in this episode and had two lines and it was her first major acting roll. Susan Saint James is her aunt.