S1E14 -Â âBuddy, Can You Spare a Job?â
Original air date: December 26, 1961
Episode recap
At home in the kitchen, Rob informs Laura he received a job offer with double the salary from The Dan Howard Show but he turned it down because he doesnât want to work for Dan Howard.
At the office the next day, Buddy informs Rob and Sally he got offered the Dan Howard job, he just needs released from his contract on The Alan Brady Show. Rob and Sally donât want Buddy to leave but he really seems to want this so they decide to be supportive.
Rob asks Mel to release Buddy from his contract. Mel refuses because Alan Brady wouldnât go for it. Alan likes Buddy as a joke writer. Mel says, however, if Rob were to lie and convince Alan that Buddyâs performance was bad, that would probably get Buddy released. Buddy dictates and Sally types a memo to Alan about how bad Buddy is at his job. Rob doesnât feel good about it but concedes and signs.Â
Sometime later Buddy pops in the Petrie house and tells Rob and Laura his Dan Howard job fell through. The memo idea backfired because Dan called Alan for a reference. Rob says he will try to get Buddy his job back.
Mel says Rob and Sally can hire another writer, just not Buddy. They hire a night club comic friend of theirs and Buddyâs to insult Mel worse than Buddy ever did. This comic is brutal to Mel at their initial meeting. The plan works as Mel says get rid of him and bring back Buddy.
Upon Buddyâs return, he gives Mel a few gentle bald jokes. Mel doesnât mind because he removes his hat and reveals a full head of hair.
Everything is about me
A few weekends ago, my daughterâs soccer team suffered their worst loss of season. I was sitting next to the mom of our teamâs best player, and she was frustrated that we werenât playing better. It was quite clear to me the other team was just better. The mom was having none of that, she insisted there were things our team could do better.
At work there are all sorts of things that get in the way of what my team is trying to accomplish. Fair enough. I try to get my team to focus on what we can control and execute on that. I have a high standard for performance on what we control.
I am reminded of a class I took in college on demographics. Our professor would say the demographics is 2/3 of everything. That is, when you are wondering why something is happening, the base set of circumstances is 2/3 of the answer.
So 2/3 of the reason my daughterâs soccer team was losing could be explained by the other team being better. But that doesnât change the attitude of the mom of the teamâs best player who expects excellence. We could play harder and find successes in the 1/3 of the game that we can impact. Fighting for the 50/50 balls, locking in on D and not allowing shots, being unselfish and opportunistic in the rare instances when we are attacking.
I can do a better job showing my team I understand that there are 2/3 of things out of our control. We can name them and put them on the side. I can explain that I only care about we execute on the 1/3. I want my team to feel satisfied on a job well done where a job can be well done.
Episode observations
Life before cell phones
Minimal impact on this plot. I guess Buddy wouldnât have popped in the Petries to talk about his job falling through, he would have just texted. Did people just have more awkward conversations in person back then? Were they all better people? Probably not, they probably just had fewer awkward conversations and resentment simmered. Texting gives us the opportunity to address awkward subjects without eye contact. But when the time comes to do it in person, people in 1961 were probably better equipped.
Clothes and fashion
Rob and Laura sitting around the house dressed amazingly as always. Maybe thatâs what we need to do to lose weight. If I ditched the T-shirt with shorts or pajama bottoms as my evening wear, replacing them with collared shirt tucked into slacks with a belt with a sweater over the top, surely I would snack less.
Vocabulary lesson
When Rob initially explains to Laura why he canât take the Dan Howard job, itâs because it would turn him into a nervous, âdodderingâ old man. Presumably because the job would be so stressful. I had to look it up and wondered to myself if it was âdotteringâ of âdaughteringâ but itâs âdoddering,â which means weak due to old age.
When they started writing the memo to get Buddy released, Buddy thought they were being too respectful and said they needed to âlouseâ him up more. A louse is a contemptible person.
Interpersonal relationships/human interaction
Is Buddy mean to Mel out of love or out of contempt? It seems like itâs out of contempt. Is Mel really that bad at his job? Did the average TV viewer in 1961 experience the wrong side of nepotism enough that the Buddy-Mel dynamic stood in as an outlet for their rage?
Best joke/funniest moment
When they brought the Jackie Brewster character in to insult Mel, that was probably the funniest moment. But it wasnât one particular line, it was the whole mood.
Since I canât settle on which line of that scene to use, hereâs a Buddy insult of Mel he delivers earlier in the show that was pretty good:Â âin many years I know I said a lot of insulting things about your bald head...and I'm sorry...I never mentioned the rest of your ugly puss.â
Other assorted thoughts on life in the 1960s
Memos. I remember a few years back talking to an older colleague of mine about work before email. He mentioned in the mid â90s you would write memos all the time. Then interoffice mail would take it away. Three days later you would get a response. Seems like another world.
Sally told Rob that he know all those college words so he should write the memo. Not only do TV writers today need go to college. They probably need to go to Harvard.
Final thoughts
What is so bad about working for Dan Howard?
