I got to view this episode on ME-TV yesterday. I totally agree that except for the middle half of the show featuring Dennis, it had few laughs, if any.
It was really odd to see how Dennis somehow knew the Stones--on his show we never heard that he lived in Hilldale, yet in this episode, it seemed clear that he lived near enough to walk to the Stones' house, and, with Mr. Wilson established as his neighbor, you cannot claim that this was before he moved next door to Mr. Wilson.
Of course, we viewers aren't supposed to be concerned with any establishment of where either series takes place--we are supposed to just enjoy the humor of the shows.
I thought this episode did a great job of presenting how Dennis had clumsy accidents while being well-meaning.
The funniest line was when Donna told Dennis that it was all HER fault for him slipping on her slippery kitchen floor and knocking something over. He responded, "Gee Mrs. Stone. Nobody's ever said that to me before."
The surprise to me is that neither the ME-TV storyline on screen, nor the IMDB description of this plot even mentions the guest star who, like you said, stole the show.
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spike71
9 years ago
I always figure the writers didn't give the Stone's much of a storyline so the focus would be on Dennis, in order to promote his show. It's funny you mention Dennis living close enough to walk to the Stone's house because the Mitchell and Stone houses were the same set.
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FlushingCaps
9 years ago
Good point, Spike.
I wasn't even thinking about how the exterior front of the house shown occasionally as the home of the Mitchells was the same as the Stone home, probably because on Donna Reed they almost never show the exterior front. They often have the family in their small backyard, frequently eating a meal, but they do not show the front of the house much at all.
All I was thinking of was that the characters of Mr. Wilson and Dennis were established as being well-acquainted with Donna while they were never stated to be living in the same town as her, let alone knowing her or her family, on any episode of Dennis' series.
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spike71
9 years ago
Who ever would have known they lived in the same town of Hilldale? Not that we expected any more crossovers but there was never a mention of Mr. Quigley's store, for example. There were several episodes that showed Donna in a local grocery store and it wasn't Quigley's market. No mention of Officer Mooney either.
I guess I am nit-picking but once I see some relativity, I think it's neat to keep it coming. Not sure who watched Empty Nest and The Golden Girls but I always enjoyed how they mentioned each other's characters.
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Navaros
9 years ago
I always figure the writers didn't give the Stone's much of a storyline so the focus would be on Dennis, in order to promote his show.
That's part of my point in the OP.
They focused on Dennis in an extremely half-baked way, by making a very bad decision to waste 15 minutes of screen-time without Dennis, which is comprised of the Stones doing absolutely nothing.
They could have greatly improved the focus on Dennis
and made a
much better episode overall if they instead chose to bring Dennis in starting with the very first minute.
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