Season: 2 (The Sonny & Cher Show)
Episode: 17
Guest(s): Jim Nabors, The Hudson Brothers, Shields & Yarnell
CBS Air Date: October 31, 1976
Also aired: TVLand
Opening Song: “Still the One” (Video)
Cover of Orleans (1976)
Another wrong bucket song. I’ve loved this song since 1976. Not sure I love this version though. It’s a bit hyper. My notes say this is a bad song for them. I do love Cher’s black dress with a silver cob-web pattern (brilliant!) and the big spider on her arm. Sonny wears a black suit and an orange shirt. Cher’s hair is so much thicker this series. Sonny is wearing quite a large quantity of gold. Cher does a big, dramatic hair flip. Sonny does that pull-the-train-whistle thing he does at the end of songs and exclaims, “Ah right!”
Breakout: Alvin and Laverne are dressed for Halloween. Sonny is an angel (just like he is on my Cher Christmas tree!) and Cher is in her normal pantsuit with an orange cape and a pirate hat. Bartender Ted Zeigler pours booze into their paper bags upsetting Alvin. Cher indicates she’s still with Harry and that he will drink everything out of a brown paper bag. There’s a Laverne and Shirley joke. We find out that Alvin’s wife Myrna almost wouldn’t let him out of the house that night. Ted Zeigler was previously watching Sonny & Cher on TV and he describes them as having goofy hair, a fake nose and weird-looking finger nails.
Opening Banter: Sonny and Cher hug. Sonny calls her spider woman. Cher points to the spider and says his name is Oscar. There seems to be a private joke between them about the name Oscar. (I’m guessing it’s what Sonny calls his…ok, I’ll stop.) Sonny wipes some “goop” off Cher’s lipstick. Cher makes a honeymoon joke. He insists Gerald Ford will win the election. Cher says the only way Ford will win is if he dresses up in a Jimmy Carter outfit. Sonny responds with a peanut farm joke. Sonny accuses Cher of always changing the subject. Cher says Halloween is just like elections in that people are trying to get goodies by pretending they’re something they’re not.
Skit: Things That Go Bump in the Night: Should we expect as much double entendre in this later-day show? Sadly, no. Creepy white bodies on a staircase while Cher sings in a red and white-streaked black wig. She cackles. This is very similar to what she did earlier in episode #2 in February.
+ Dr. Jeckyll (Sonny) hosts a scary party with his butler, Jim Nabors.
+ The Bionic Draculas at Home: Shields & Yarnell are the Draculas and their milkman (Sonny) makes nighttime deliveries. I’ve double-starred this one.
S&C at Home: Cher with Sonny and Chastity at Cher’s house for Halloween trick-or-treating. It’s the bicentennial and Sonny and Chasity are dressed up like famous Americans. To match Sonny, Chastity wears a fake mustache. Sonny either has or threatens to soap Cher’s windows. Cher wants them to sing a song for candy. Sonny and Chastity sing “Sonny Boy.”
Beauty and the Beast: The King Kong skit has a new name. Fay Wray (Cher) is on the phone ordering a banana pizza. Her mom then calls and they talk about Aunt Ethel. This gets King Kong laughing. Fay accuses King Kong of “fooling around” with the Statue of Liberty.
Skit: The Monster Dating Game: Jim Nabors is the emcee as the Wolfman and Cher is the contestant as her gullible blonde character, this time named Mary Jane Moffit and The Hudson Brothers do that joke they do where they’re joined together as something, this time a spider. Sigh. Moffit will sit on the spider but she says she is more afraid of Cleveland than the spider. There’s a joke about Air Vampire airlines where all the stewardesses are old bats.
Cher Solo: “Home Again” (Video)
Cover of Carole King (1971)
Cher wears a lovely, bejeweled braid or ponytail. It almost looks like a bun of buns. She is shot through fake blue leaves and wears a very pretty, gauzy pale halter dress. It looks like the censors have made them cover her midriff with gauze, something that would never have happened on the old married show. Some hanging hand and creative shots.
Laverne: Alvin and Laverne are back in the bar at Halloween, dancing to a Cher song. Laverne calls Alvin “sweet cheeks” so things are looking up for him. She then asks him if he has considered leaving “that weirdo” Myrna. I would say things are looking very good for Alvin.
Operetta: In this musical, Chastity makes reference again to soaping the windows. Cher tells Chastity a scary story about Sonny as the Devil and his wife Cher. The Hudson Brothers are three rotten nephews Sonny & Cher plan to eat. Jim Nabors plays Lucifer Jr. who comes home from college and is now rebelling as a good person. I laughed typing that joke out just now.
IGUB: Full closing with the whole family (Chastity in a pumpkin shirt) thanking guests and singing the ending song. Chastity says “don’t forget to vote.” Sonny flips his hair in a mimic of Cher.
Thanks to Jay for the official run-down on this episode.
Highlights: Any Halloween episode is a good episode by definition. More King Kong. Good solo song. What’s up with all the missing concerts? What was Sonny so busy doing?
