Season 1, Episode 19
Date of airing: March 11, 1983 (NBC)
Nielsen ratings information: 13.24 million Households, 15.9 rating/24 share in Households
Written by: William Schmidt
Directed by: Christian I. Nyby II
”Trucker shorthand brutalizes my vocabulary banks.”
A trucker episode! I'm sure all the trucker viewers in the American Midwest liked this episode, and it may even be one of the hours of the show that stands the test of time because of it, since trucking is still a job in today's times, even if more volatile because of automation. This episode may be a wet dream for all the truckers, while a certain scene in the 2017 film LOGAN, in which trucks drive automatically and don't even have a cabin at the front, is a nightmare for them. And for some truckers, it may have been a bit of a boring episode because it didn't fully go into the life of a trucker. The constant life on the road, and what to do when you sit all day and drive a rig. Calling various rest stops in small towns your home.
This episode hilariously subverted one element of the show, and it's Michael kissing the woman guest character of the week. Judging by how much Teri wanted to smooch on Michael's lips, it was comically surprising that the two never ended up interlocking their faces. Michael was going for it twice, but Teri was pulling back in both moments, while also talking about how she hasn't kissed a man in a long time, and her brother thinking that Michael is her loverboy. Was David Hasselhoff's then-girlfriend and future wife (and divorcee) Catherine Hickland still on set, preventing her man from doing it with other women? Or was the fact that Teri was written as a tomboy (she described herself as one, too) the deciding factor that Michael wouldn't lock lips with her because Teri wasn't “attractive” enough for the show to be desirable by the hero?
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| Michael likes his car more than the truck, so he changes vehicles mid-journey. |
