S01.E04: Peggy's Day Out

[Whimsy]

To hide a mess Eddie made, his girlfriend Wendi tries to distract Peggy by insisting she take a day off with a fun day out while they take care of the housework. To everyone's surprise, Peggy accepts the offer and requests Wendi tag along, with the ulterior motive of teaching her a lesson. Meanwhile, Eddie enlists the help of his brothers to clean up and keep Mike out of the house while Wendi and Peggy are out. Elsewhere, Pat introduces Timmy to his secret dog.

[festivus]

No wonder she never leaves the house. Those kids tore it up!

[anna0852]

Joey straight out telling Mike that getting involved was more trouble than it was worth was gold! 

[breezy424]

I kind of like the show but I feel like I'm watching a show from the late fifties.  I was a teenager in the seventies and flips were not being worn anymore.

Seat belts were 'invented' and so were bicycle helmets.  That intro should have said that people weren't required to wear seat belts and bicycle helmets.  Sorry, it just bugs me.  If you're going to do a period setting, get it right.

[hoodooznoodooz]

There are problems, but this episode clinched it for me. I like this show.

The mom was more likable. Enjoyed her eight Pekingese. Not a day goes by that she doesn’t think eight is too many. 

Don’t usually like the actor, but liked the meatloaf combover joke. 

The brother with a dog named Tessie is consistently entertaining. 

Eddie might be a contributing member of society, like a milkman.

[Snow Apple]

5 hours ago, breezy424 said:

I kind of like the show but I feel like I'm watching a show from the late fifties.  I was a teenager in the seventies and flips were not being worn anymore.

The show is set in 1972 so the flip would make more sense if it curled inwards instead of out. From what I see from googling anyway.

Although the hairdos after the salon visit reminds me of the last episode of the Brady Bunch when Greg ran into his schoolmates at the hair salon and the girls has the same big elaborate do's.

[hoodooznoodooz]

The crime committed is that no one has mentioned how wonderful the mom’s hair looks. 

The first episode, I thought that that brother was just a tattletale, but now I think he actually likes his parents, or is a s- - - up, which is more interesting than just a tattletale.

[LBS]

I seriously love this show.  Even the over the top moments (Frank being tied to the laundry line) made me laugh because they tie everything together.  I missed a good family sitcom and this brings it.  Plus I’m getting a handle on all the boys personalities.

[AnnaRose]

12 hours ago, breezy424 said:

I kind of like the show but I feel like I'm watching a show from the late fifties.  I was a teenager in the seventies and flips were not being worn anymore.

I have several photos from 1972 that would beg to differ.  Granted not all relatives in the family photo album were still sporting a flip, nor all the time... but I could see how a no-nonsense mom with eight boys might have just stuck with the hairstyle she had when she got married and started having babies.

Very funny episode.  I love this show!

Edited November 14, 2018 by AnnaRose

[biakbiak]

The girlfriend should play Emma Stone’s sister in something.

Since this is based on the creators life but I think it’s interesting that the dad was in WWII but they didn’t have their first kid until 1952. The parents appear to be the same age and that seems old for two devout Catholics in the 40/50s.

[anna0852]

Mike might have been stationed in Europe for awhile after the war ended. And of course we don't know when he and Peggy met.

[biakbiak]

39 minutes ago, anna0852 said:

Mike might have been stationed in Europe for awhile after the war ended. And of course we don't know when he and Peggy met.

That wouldn’t be typical for a private which given other things he said about him seems likely. I mean it’s obviously the case because it’s based on a true story I just think it’s interesting and would like to know the story. 

[anna0852]

Depends on when he arrived in the ETO and his point status when the war ended. The Allies occupied Germany for quite sometime. 

[biakbiak]

57 minutes ago, anna0852 said:

Depends on when he arrived in the ETO and his point status when the war ended. The Allies occupied Germany for quite sometime. 

Given we still have military bases in Germany, I am aware that there was a military presence after the war but the way it was dicussed in the episode that he was happy for WWII because it meant his lunch was free indicates that he was most likely not long term military. 

[HeySandyStrange]

Didn’t Mike also enter the service really young? In the first episode I thought I heard the oldest son imply Mike aged himself up so he could join the military to fight in WWII. So he might’ve been still really young by the time it ended. Plus, maybe Mike and Peggy had difficulty conceiving before oldest was born.

[biakbiak]

19 minutes ago, HeySandyStrange said:

Didn’t Mike also enter the service really young? In the first episode I thought I heard the oldest son imply Mike aged himself up so he could join the military to fight in WWII. So he might’ve been still really young by the time it ended. Plus, maybe Mike and Peggy had difficulty conceiving before oldest was born.

I don’t recall any part of dialogue to suggest he aged himself up but The war ended in 1945 and the first kid was in 1952 and then they clearly had children ever few years for the next 20 years so fertility struggles while not impossible seem fairly unlikely, though we do know that the oldest was born premature. They are going to be some of the oldest parents around for the baby. Nearly all my friends parents were baby boomers not veterans of WWII.

For what it’s worth Cudlitz is 54 and Mary 49 but who knows their ages. 

Edited November 14, 2018 by biakbiak

[KnoxForPres]

This show is good and I really hope others are watching and it gets a future. 

Sometimes I have a hard time hearing all the one liners. Not sure if it’s my hearing (please no- eyes bad enough!) or TV but I think I’ve missed some good zings.

I liked how that one boy fixed the shuttered looking thing perfectly with no explanation. 

Loved the scene with the mom and girlfriend at stop sign and 2 kids walk by caked in mud  with a dog and she asks to move along. 

Liked when the one said the spot was Jesus blood and it wipes away. 

And the one who got hung up wanted to hear how the story ends. 

There is a sweetness to this show that makes it really good. The writers do a great job and I consider this must see tv. 

Sorry for calling the sons generically and I know someone awesomely said who and what their names are. Much like my eyesight sometimes my brain doesn’t get that on first read so for now it’s “that son who” - apologies. 

Edited November 14, 2018 by KnoxForPres

[Snow Apple]

1 hour ago, KnoxForPres said:

 

Sorry for calling the sons generically and I know someone awesomely said who and what their names are. Much like my eyesight sometimes my brain doesn’t get that on first read so for now it’s “that son who” - apologies. 

 

I remember one of the kids is named Eddie. That's it.

Oh, and one of them is Timmy because the episode "Timmy's Poem" is one of the threads here.

Edited November 15, 2018 by Snow Apple

[Bazinga]

I know it's an unpopular opinion, but I can't stand the mom.  She is nasty just for the sake of nastiness.  Love William the reader.  He is smart and says funny things.  His line comparing the sizes of his two brothers to the transitive law was great. 

Edited November 15, 2018 by Bazinga

[sheetmoss]

21 hours ago, Snow Apple said:

The show is set in 1972 so the flip would make more sense if it curled inwards instead of out. From what I see from googling anyway.

Although the hairdos after the salon visit reminds me of the last episode of the Brady Bunch when Greg ran into his schoolmates at the hair salon and the girls has the same big elaborate do's.

The mom's hair I could understand -  her normal style and new doo--  but not so much w/the girlfriend's orig flip--that was way more a mid 60's. stiff look

    Mary Richards in S1(70-71) had one, but it was way longer and looser

    The mom affected a haitstyle and just stuck with it.  I remember when Farah Fawcett got her iconic feathered style in the late 70's - that hairstyle or versions of...stuck around into the  90's

Edited November 15, 2018 by sheetmoss

[Yeah No]

27 minutes ago, sheetmoss said:

The mom's hair I could understand -  her normal style and new doo--  but not so much w/the girlfriend's orig flip--that was way more a mid 60's. stiff look

    Mary Richards in S1(70-71) had one, but it was way longer and looser

    The mom affected a haitstyle and just stuck with it.  I remember when Farah Fawcett got her iconic feathered style in the late 70's - that hairstyle or versions of...stuck around into the  90's

In total agreement here.  I think the girlfriend's hair should  have been longer like MTM's hair above if she were going to sport a flip, but around 1972-ish flips were on the way out with young women.  Either that or she should have sported a short to medium length "shag", which was coming into vogue around the 1972-ish timeframe.  The reason I remember that is that my best girlfriend in Jr. High wanted one SO BADLY.  It was the "new thing" around that time.  The other alternative for a young woman at that time was the Brady Bunch long straight hair parted in the middle.  That's what I wore back then!

I did appreciate the way the hairdressers looked, though.  I split my sides at the one on the right - he was very accurate and priceless!  I do have to hand it to this show, though, because styles were changing rapidly at that time and it might be hard to get it just right if they're not careful.  I do have to agree with the poster above that I often feel like I'm watching a show set in the 50's, not the early '70s.  Unless my family was more forward in a lot of ways because I grew up in NYC.  Around 1972 my Mom was going to the Vidal Sassoon school for a cheap stylish cut.  It was parted on the side and around mid-neck, which she rolled with electric rollers every day to add volume.  

[methodwriter85]

24 minutes ago, Yeah No said:

Either that or she should have sported a short to medium length "shag", which was coming into vogue around the 1972-ish timeframe.  The reason I remember that is that my best girlfriend in Jr. High wanted one SO BADLY.  It was the "new thing" around that time.

Jane Fonda's Klute look, I'm assuming:

It kind of fits for me that the girlfriend's hair is pretty old-fashioned because the son she's dating is also sporting a pretty conservative haircut. It also made them stand out more in the fancy hair salon. They're not "with it" at all.

I liked how they didn't really center as much on Timmy this episode and we got to know more about how the other guys see things. I like Timmy a lot but I did like seeing more of the brother relationship dynamics.

Edited November 15, 2018 by methodwriter85

[zoey1996]

13 hours ago, Bazinga said:

I know it's an unpopular opinion, but I can't stand the mom.  She is nasty just for the sake of nastiness.  Love William the reader.  He is smart and says funny things.  His line comparing the sizes of his two brothers to the transitive law was great. 

I agree with the opinion about the mother.  She's so dishonest and devious, and has been on every episode so far.  Lying, stealing, teaching her kids it's all right to lie.  I get a little white lie once in a while, but this is more than that.

[mojito]

Quote

I do have to agree with the poster above that I often feel like I'm watching a show set in the 50's, not the early '70s.  Unless my family was more forward in a lot of ways because I grew up in NYC.  Around 1972 my Mom was going to the Vidal Sassoon school for a cheap stylish cut.  It was parted on the side and around mid-neck, which she rolled with electric rollers every day to add volume.  

I'm not understanding Mom wearing dresses and heels so much. That seems so early-sixties to me. Maybe my family was more forward, too, in the NYC suburbs. Heels and stockings were for dress-up occasions, like Sunday Church (Saturday evening was a different thing) or dances. Slacks were the way to go for everyday wear. By 1970, most of my female high school  teachers were going the pants suite route, although many still wore dresses/skirts off and on. Blue jeans was the normal attire for the students (and a few male teachers). Flips were for older women; young women wore their hair long and straight. (Or afros!)

[AnnaRose]

8 hours ago, methodwriter85 said:

It kind of fits for me that the girlfriend's hair is pretty old-fashioned because the son she's dating is also sporting a pretty conservative haircut. It also made them stand out more in the fancy hair salon. They're not "with it" at all.

 

This.  The girlfriend seems very conservative and old-fashioned to me - it seems like she is being sincere in her admiration of the mom, and I can totally believe that she might like a similar hairstyle.  It makes for an interesting dynamic in that Eddie seems to have found a girlfriend that is quite a bit like his mom.

I also don't mind them going this route with the hairstyle, because I think most viewers probably wouldn't care or even notice, plus in my opinion shags are very ugly.  I wonder if they would have to put the actress in a wig if they do eventually go with a shag haircut, rather than chopping up her hair?  Then people will complain about the wigs. ;)

ETA:  I forgot to mention... I grew up in a conservative catholic family around that time and girls and women wore a lot of skirts and dresses... so that doesn't bother me either.  (I don't think I owned a pair of jeans until the eighties.)

Edited November 15, 2018 by AnnaRose
forgot to proofread.

[Yeah No]

This is a photo of my cousin-in-law's wedding, which was in 1972.  On the far left is my SIL.  All these women were very young, close to the age of the girlfriend in this episode.  By the way, these women are about as conservative as someone could GET back in those days.  I have always seen my SIL as the most conservatively dressed person I've ever known, and I know quite a few.  My SIL was about 16/17 in this photo and her hair is long and tied in the back.  Her cousin, next to her, has similar long hair with a little bit of a flip, but it's still long.

 

Edited November 15, 2018 by Yeah No

[sheetmoss]

5 hours ago, mojito said:

I'm not understanding Mom wearing dresses and heels so much. That seems so early-sixties to me.

I think the mom's look got stuck in the late 50's & 60's w/the fitted  dresses , heels and hair

 

I remember a lot of moms back than in shapeless  'housedresses' --maybe sans sleeves,   walking around all day w/hair in rollers  with scarf covering them ;-)

 

 

  

Edited November 15, 2018 by sheetmoss

[Ilovepie]

1 hour ago, sheetmoss said:

I think the mom's look got stuck in the late 50's & 60's w/the fitted  dresses , heels and hair

I think it's this exactly - she has been raising all these boys for the last two decades, not worrying too much about keeping up with the latest fashion! The thing I don't understand is that Timmy's voiceover says that she doesn't have a drivers license. I just don't see how that works with all of these kids and living in LA?

My favorite part was when Joey convinced the dad to not come in the house and the Dad only cared about whether the mess involved the TV or if anyone was hurt. That exchange was a crack up!

I also liked when Wendy complimented the mom about being such a great mother and then Timmy and Pat walked by with the dog, covered in filth and Pat missing his shirt. "I'm not fanatic about it." Ha!

This show is quickly becoming a favorite for me - I hope it gets renewed!

[txhorns79]

One thing I noticed was that when the dad turned on the television at the end, they were discussing the Watergate hearings, which I thought didn't even happen until '73/'74. 

Quote

I think it's this exactly - she has been raising all these boys for the last two decades, not worrying too much about keeping up with the latest fashion! The thing I don't understand is that Timmy's voiceover says that she doesn't have a drivers license. I just don't see how that works with all of these kids and living in LA?

 

I didn't understand how she could function without a driver's license in LA with eight children.  As to her outfits, they've made it seem like money is tight and the character seems fairly practical in that she wouldn't buy clothes just to update her look.   

[LBS]

43 minutes ago, Ilovepie said:

My favorite part was when Joey convinced the dad to not come in the house and the Dad only cared about whether the mess involved the TV or if anyone was hurt. That exchange was a crack up!

And then when he came home the first thing he did was turn on the TV!

I think Peggy not having her license is not weird.   They live in Glendale, CA not Los Angeles so much more compact/suburban.   Also, 60% of all drivers in the 1960's were men (according to this linked article) so it is entirely likely that she didn't have one.  My grandma never got hers and she lived in Chicago.   So it doesn't phase me.

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/13/more-women-drivers-licenses-men-study_n_2296217.html

[Squirrely]

I really enjoyed this episode not being Timmy-centric as much. It's nice to see the other brothers get separate stories. And Wendy is a winner in my book. Girlfriend drives a Karmann Ghia! :) 

[Ilovepie]

54 minutes ago, LBS said:

They live in Glendale, CA not Los Angeles so much more compact/suburban

I am from California so I get the difference, but the fact that it's suburban to me means it's even odder that she doesn't drive - I mean, it's hardly New York, Chicago or San Francisco where getting around without a car is easier and lots of public transportation is available. I've lived in California my whole life and I have never met any woman that didn't have a drivers license, including older generation (I was born in 1972). It just seemed strange to me with all those kids - does she never leave the house unless the dad takes her? Or did she just schlep all those kids around on a bus when she needed to take them somewhere? I guess now she has one of the older kids drive her, but it's weird since it's 1970's and not 1950's......

[Snow Apple]

Maybe she never had time to learn or her parents couldn't afford a car. She got married in the 50's and was probably barely out of her teens. Then she continued to have babies for the next twenty years keeping her too busy.

[Rockstar99435]

It doesn't seem totally weird that the Mom doesn't drive. They only have one car and the Dad takes it to work every day. We know he's the one who does all the grocery shopping. 

I loved all the different mash-ups of characters. The exchange between Joey and the Dad on the porch and Eddie telling the reading kid that he's could come inside while leaving the tattle-tale tied up were my favorites.

I really like that the Mom isn't trying to break up Eddie and the girlfriend. She just wants to make sure that the girlfriend isn't going to hurt/betray Eddie. 

[Yeah No]

8 hours ago, txhorns79 said:

One thing I noticed was that when the dad turned on the television at the end, they were discussing the Watergate hearings, which I thought didn't even happen until '73/'74. 

Yes, I thought that too.  The proceedings weren't even first broadcast on TV until 1973.

[biakbiak]

When was the 1972 mentioned? Was it during the pilot? Maybe they changed it a few years for some reason for the actual show. This is the second time Nixon/Watergate has come up.

[Snow Apple]

51 minutes ago, biakbiak said:

When was the 1972 mentioned? Was it during the pilot? Maybe they changed it a few years for some reason for the actual show. This is the second time Nixon/Watergate has come up.

I think they say it in the opening credits.

[Yeah No]

20 hours ago, Ilovepie said:

I am from California so I get the difference, but the fact that it's suburban to me means it's even odder that she doesn't drive - I mean, it's hardly New York, Chicago or San Francisco where getting around without a car is easier and lots of public transportation is available. I've lived in California my whole life and I have never met any woman that didn't have a drivers license, including older generation (I was born in 1972). It just seemed strange to me with all those kids - does she never leave the house unless the dad takes her? Or did she just schlep all those kids around on a bus when she needed to take them somewhere? I guess now she has one of the older kids drive her, but it's weird since it's 1970's and not 1950's......

I agree.  I grew up in NYC and most women in the city didn't drive back then, except of course my mother, who not only drove but owned her own car.  However, pretty much all of the suburban kids I knew had moms that drove.

17 hours ago, Rockstar99435 said:

It doesn't seem totally weird that the Mom doesn't drive. They only have one car and the Dad takes it to work every day. We know he's the one who does all the grocery shopping. 

I think it's very odd that the Dad does the shopping.  Especially back then it was pretty rare to see a man in a supermarket shopping for his family all by himself unless he was single or widowed.  Even a lot of men in my generation don't know their way around a supermarket.

I hate to say it, but moms not driving back then was a function of the expectation that they were supposed to be home tending to the home and kids. Not driving was to ensure that they were dependent on their husbands and not able to "carouse around" without their knowledge.  A lot of husbands who had very male chauvinist values didn't want their women to have that means of independence, and their wives accepted those values as part of their expected role.  My mother didn't get married until she was 30 and had already owned her own car and been an officer in the Women's Army Corps., so she made sure to marry a guy that was OK with her driving and being somewhat independent.  Thankfully, my father was that guy, but I noticed that a lot of the Dads in other families were way less progressive than my father and their women were somewhat "under their thumbs" that way.  This show hasn't so far shown the father to have that attitude to any great degree, but I get the feeling that he would have been pretty old school about women and not on board with his wife having all that much independence.

Edited November 16, 2018 by Yeah No
Typo

[mojito]

Quote

I am from California so I get the difference, but the fact that it's suburban to me means it's even odder that she doesn't drive - I mean, it's hardly New York, Chicago or San Francisco where getting around without a car is easier and lots of public transportation is available. 

I always thought of California as being the epitome of the car culture, so to me it seems odd the mother doesn't drive. I can only think of one mom in the suburbs during those times who didn't drive. Otherwise, the only people I knew who didn't drive lived in NYC. My mother got her driver license as soon as my parents started talking about moving to the suburbs.

[Ilovepie]

51 minutes ago, mojito said:

I always thought of California as being the epitome of the car culture, so to me it seems odd the mother doesn't drive.

Yes - that was my point, especially in Southern California! Shoot, my mom and her three sisters grew up (think 50's/60's) in the Bay Area, and my grandfather worked in San Francisco. My grandmother was the one who had use of the car because she needed it more for transporting kids and groceries etc. My grandpa used public transportation since there was just one of him going one place. Eventually they could afford more than one car, but when they were starting out not so much, and my Grandma would have been pretty close to the Mom in this show's age....

[Whimsy]

My mom, who was 60 when she passed away in 2015, never got her license.  It does happen.  It's weird, but it happens.  

[HeySandyStrange]

I have heard that a significant number of women born in the ‘30s and ‘40s went on to never drive and get their licenses. I’m not all that sure why, but I understood one reasoning for it that it was deemed  “unladylike” and something a good woman didn’t do, probably more in certain parts of the country then others. Maybe Peggy wasn’t originally from California and her family had really sexist ideas. 

[marypat57]

I remember when my mom got her driver's license in 1958.  We had lived in the suburbs for about 2 years, after moving from the city.  My dad worked long hours, both in heavy construction maintainence and waiting tables.  My mom had 4 small kids and got tired of waiting for dad to be home to go grocery shopping.  I remember all of us going out in the car for mom 's lessons.  It was a stick shift car, with no car seats or seat belts.  

Mom was one of the first moms in the neighboorhod to get her license.  I remember one of her favorite things to do was to hire a baby sitter so she could go to mass on Sunday in peace and quiet.  I can see that as something Peggy Cleary would do...

[AnnaRose]

Wasn't it Eddie, in this episode, who said that their mom never left the house except for church?  I guess that could be one of the reasons why she didn't felt she needed to drive.

[Yeah No]

I know I've said it before, but it was a part of a woman's perceived "role" to be at home and not be in the world and independent like their husbands, and driving is a symbol of independence.  However, by the 1970s that was starting to change.  I think this family is somewhat old fashioned.  At that time there were families that lived more in the past than others.  I can see how this family still adhered to the old philosophy that "a woman's place is in the home" serving husband and family.

That said, even though my mother drove, there was a time when I was little that she didn't drive for several years, but we lived in NYC and she could and did walk and take public transportation everywhere because Dad had to take the car for work.  I remember when I was about 6 we moved to a neighborhood that was a little farther away from the main shopping street and she started driving again.  By the time I was 9 she went back to work and saved for and bought her own car.  That was in 1966.  She was the only married woman on the block that drove and had her own car (I knew a couple of single women that had their own cars), but I'm sure that if this were the suburbs a lot of those married women would have been driving.

Edited November 21, 2018 by Yeah No

[libgirl2]

On 11/15/2018 at 4:28 PM, LBS said:

And then when he came home the first thing he did was turn on the TV!

I think Peggy not having her license is not weird.   They live in Glendale, CA not Los Angeles so much more compact/suburban.   Also, 60% of all drivers in the 1960's were men (according to this linked article) so it is entirely likely that she didn't have one.  My grandma never got hers and she lived in Chicago.   So it doesn't phase me.

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/13/more-women-drivers-licenses-men-study_n_2296217.html

My aunt who passed a few years ago never got her license. My uncle always drove. When he passed, one of the kids would driver her places. They lived in the burbs too. 

Edited November 21, 2018 by libgirl2

[biakbiak]

5 minutes ago, lucindabelle said:

I’m not sure when the hearing started but I suspect it was the autumn of 1972, can anyone confirm?

The hearings that were shown didn’t start until May of 1973.

[lucindabelle]

27 minutes ago, biakbiak said:

The hearings that were shown didn’t start until May of 1973.

Then I would presume this is the shows waynof telling us time has gone by. It does look like spring. 

[biakbiak]

6 minutes ago, lucindabelle said:

Then I would presume this is the shows waynof telling us time has gone by. It does look like spring. 

At the beginning of each episode it’s stated that it’s  1972.

Edited November 25, 2018 by biakbiak

[AnnaRose]

1 hour ago, biakbiak said:

At the beginning of each episode it’s stated that it’s  1972.

 

You're referring to the opening credits, right? 

Okay... I'm editing this because I just went to check the opening credits and they only say "The 1970's..." rather than a specific year.  And biakbiak is correct that this particular episode specifies the summer of 1972.

Edited again because it's the episode after this one that has the voiceover at the beginning saying it's the summer of 1972.  I'm not sure if this episode mentions that time specifically, but I would assume it's suppose to be around the same time.

Edited November 25, 2018 by AnnaRose