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"What Price Gloria?" Leap Date: October 16, 1961 Episode Adopted by: Missy <aka> mrsbeckett Synopsis: Sam is a woman! And Al is in love. In this second season, we discover that Al sees Sam as the person he leaps into (which changes in later episodes) and Al has to see Dr. Beeks the project shrink to cope with seeing his best friend as a beautiful woman. Sam and his best friend Gloria are secretaries. Sam is being stalked by every man in the office, especially his boss Buddy Wright, who is married but promising Gloria that he will divorce the wife and marry her. But it's not meant to be and unless Sam can intervene, Gloria will commit suicide.
Place
Leap Date: October 16, 1961 Place: Detroit, MI. Leapee: Samantha Stormer- "Youngest Executive Secretary" for Buddy Wright, at National Motors Corporation. Writer: Deborah Pratt Co-Producer: Deborah Pratt Producer: Harker Wade Director: Alan J. Levi Supervising Producer: Scott Shepherd Guest stars: Jean Sagal-Gloria Collins; John Calvin-Buddy Wright; La Reine Chabut-Samantha- Gregg Berger-Parker (the guy Gloria will marry in the future) Matt Landers- Richard (Sam’s blind date); Jack Armstrong- Johnny (mail room guy who hits on Sam); Laurel Schaefer- Gail (Buddy’s wife) Music: Mike Post Regular Cast: Sam and Al Best things about episode: Seeing Sam in a bubble bath; Sam telling Buddy that he is really a man and then punching him out. Worst thing about the episode: The girl who plays Samantha is supposed to be really beautiful, and in some of the shots, she really isn’t.
Things I found out about the cast: Jean Sagel has a twin sister, Liz. They starred in the TV show "Double Trouble" in the 80’s. La Reine Chabut guest starred in an episode of "Murder She Wrote" with Guy Stockwell, brother of Dean Stockwell. Gregg Berger was the voice of Cornfed the Pig, Duckman’s partner. He does many cartoon voices and can also be heard on dozens of television commercials Laurel Schaefer played Helen Whitaker on Falcon Crest Miscellaneous Trivia: One interesting thing is a mistake in dates. Sam leaps in on October 16, but after a couple of days pass, Gloria tries to commit suicide. Al tells Sam that in the original history, Gloria died on October 16. If Sam leaped in on the 16th, then Gloria actually tried to commit suicide on the 18th. Al’s
appearances:
Sam leaps into Samantha Stormer, an executive secretary at a car manufacturer in Detroit, MI in 1961. He has to deal with the male chauvinism of the time and a boss- Buddy Wright, who wants to have his way with every woman he meets. Sam’s roommate, Gloria is involved with Buddy and he has her convinced that he is going to leave his wife and marry her. Ziggy has let Al know that Buddy is not going to leave his wife and that when she finds out, Gloria commits suicide. Of course it is Sam’s job to make sure that Gloria lives. Gloria and Sam go on a double blind date and, after Sam hits his date with his purse, and goes to talk to Al, Gloria sees Buddy’s wife (Gail) and confronts her. Once Gloria has talked to Gail, she knows that he isn’t going to marry her, so she leaves the restaurant and proceeds to climb out on the ledge of their apartment to jump. Sam has had to battle his sleazy boss, high heels and tights skirts, but of course he is up to the challenge of talking Gloria off the ledge. It’s raining and they both almost fall, but when all is said and done, Gloria realizes that she is better off without Buddy. Sam convinces her to join the design department at the car manufacturer, and as always, everything turns out great. In this episode Sam seems to be in some control of his leap, he stays around until the next day. He pretends to want to fool around with Buddy, and then, once he is on his lap, Sam tells him that he is really a man. This is one of the best things about the episode. After explaining to him things that only a man would know, he punches him and then says "I’m ready to leap, now" and, naturally, he does. This is one of my favorite episodes, mostly due to the humor. Any time an episode shows Sam’s bare chest, it makes it a favorite for me. Al’s "crush" on Sam and his inability to perform with Tina add to the fun. I love the ending scene where Sam sits on Buddy’s lap and tells him that he is really a man. Sam: "I am a man, and I’ll prove it to you" Buddy: "NO!" Buddy: "You had a brother?" Sam: "Does a brother tell a sister what he did looking at his first centerfold?" |
