Arnold lives at the Sunset Arms boarding house with his grandparents... but they're not the building's only tenents. Hence the topic of this post.
Gerald Comes Over
Why is this episode here and not under an entry about him? Let's just say it's a good introduction for the subject matter of this post.
Based on some of the conversations that happen between him and Arnold, this is the first time Gerald meets the other boarders. At the time, Arnold was sleeping over at the Johansen house and Gerald asks why he's never been inside his house...
After meeting some of the more eccentric of the boarders, we can kinda see why.
The day Gerald happens to be staying over, Grandpa wants Arnold to collect rent, so he goes door-to-door to do so. These attempts don't go quite as well as he hopes, but we get some comedic moments in between.
The first tenet, Mr. Purdy, we never hear from after this episode. Arnold goes in, closes the door and Gerald and the audience are left with dialogue and their own imaginations.
There's a distinct clucking that keeps happening.
"Was that a chicken?"
"No, no, that's just the television."
... "but you don't have a TV." (cluck)
"The radio, Arnold, it was the radio." (cluck)
"Mr. Purdy, you're keeping a chicken in here, aren't you?"
"A chicken? Well, that's just absurd."
Long story short, Mr. Purdy says he'll have the rent ready for him another day. Arnold comes back out, closes the door and says to Gerald, "Don't ask."
(odd thing is... this is kind of an inside joke.. there's supposedly no pets allowed at the boarding house, according to a sign on the outside of the builidng. But every time the door opens, Arnold's pig Abner and a bunch of dogs and cats run outside)
Ernie Potts, who kinda reminds me of Danny Devito with his short stature, is too busy reminsicing about buildings he'd demolished over the years for work. But he does take a liking to Gerald. "I like your friend here, Arnold, I like him a lot. You ought to go into demolition, kid."
By the time they leave, Gerald says he's creepy and Arnold adds, "yeah, and he likes you..."
Mr. Hyunh, a middle aged Vietnamese immigrant, says he'll give them rent after they do a few odd jobs for him. Not only does he not have it for them (he says he'll have it tomorrow), but he gives them a dime each for their work. Arnold insists Gerald can wait in his room while he finishes, but Gerald agrees to stick by him. "Nobody could be worse than that dime guy."
In front of the next door, Arnold says "you've been warned" before opening it. Oskar and Suzie Kokoshka are fighting as they often do. Suzie is ready to walk out with her typical retort: "I should have listened to my mother. She tried to warn me."
More on them, later... don't worry about it.
By the end of the show, Gerald reassures Arnold that his house is great and he didn't mind the day they had.
Thinking back on it now, the way these characters are written is very two-dimensional. It's good for a few laughs, but wears out its welcome kinda fast. But as we get further into the series, we learn more about each of them. And some of their stories are better than most of the cartoons I grew up with.
Door #16
One tenent we only hear about once or twice is the mysterious Mr. Smith. In the previous episode, a series of machines go into motion when Arnold rings the doorbell. At the end of the assembly line is an IOU note.
In this episode, Arnold is entrusted with a package for Mr. Smith and it must go directly into his hands... something that's easier said than done because the other tenents will stop at nothing to get the package to find out what's inside. There are rumors that Mr. Smith might be a spy or secret agent and some are convinced this will pull back the curtain, so to speak.
Also, apparently they're suspicious of him because he has his own bathroom and various luxuries while going out of his way to avoid them.
Arnold and Gerald go all over the city trying to find Mr. Smith to avoid the boarders, but with such a generic name, it proves impossible. After one final skuffle, the package is opened and it's a picture of the boarders and the frame says "My Family."
...There's one good episode that centers around Ernie Potts, but I'm reserving it for a post about someone else. Typically, his role is about being proud of his job (as seen on "Career Day") and getting hot-headed with some of the other tenets. Especially Oskar and Mr. Hyunh. One interesting thing is that he's the only adult Arnold had called by his first name, but that changes in later seasons.
For Mr. Hyunh, of course there's the infamous Christmas episode where Arnold is his secret Santa... but that'll also be reserved for another time. It'll be worth the wait, trust me.
But for the sake of this post, I have two episode highlights.
Mr. Hyunh Goes Country
Arnold and Gerald discover Mr. Hyunh's hidden talent: he has an astonishing singing voice. Seeing dollar signs, Gerald is convinced that the two of them can make Mr. Hyunh a huge country star and they'll get a cut as his managers. After recording "The Simple Things" in a local studio and getting it to play on a local radio station, he becomes a local celebrity.
This is then followed by a notable cameo: country star Travis Randall (played by Randy Travis, who also provides Mr. Hyunh's singing voice) invites Mr. Hyunh to play at the Grand Ole Opry and go with him on tour.
Very happy with his life as it is, Mr. Hyunh decides to do the one show and promptly retires from country music.
His song is called "The Simple Things"... did you honestly expect anything more to come of this?
But whenever Randy Travis appears anywhere, my mom jokingly refers to him as Travis Randall because of this episode.
Family Man
In a later season, Mr. Hyunh is concerned about his chances of getting a promotion to head chef at his restaurant... his boss really likes family-oriented people and Mr. Hyunh just has one immediate family member.
Thanks to a series of deceptions (initiated by Oskar), Mr. Hyunh winds up asking Suzie, Arnold and Ernie to pose as his family as he invites his boss over for dinner.
But as can be expected, they can only keep up the charade for so long. But this goes to show how much the boarders care about each other.
And yes, Mr. Hyunh gets the promotion.
Fighting Families
A hit game show is coming to town. At Arnold's school, they draw a random student's name out of a hat and it winds up being "Arnold... hmm... there seems to be a smudge over the last name."
Yeah, that's another running joke... several times, Arnold's last name is about to be revealed and it never does. I read within the last few years that it's actually Shortman. And I thought it was just Grandpa's nickname for him this whole time...
So Arnold has to pick two boarders to join him and his grandparents... it gets very competitive between the three possibilities and in the end, it's Ernie and Mr. Hyunh. Arnold says Oskar can be an alternate- a position he's definitely not happy about. Through much of the game, he either boos or says "they should've picked me."
During the game, Ernie and Mr. Hyunh butt heads a lot and it sabotages Arnold's team for the first half of the game.
It actually gets so out of hand that the host comes over to lecture them during the break.
"I know the show is calling 'Fighting Families' but you're supposed to be fighting the other family. Get It?!" (Also, the voice actor for this guy is Ryan Seacrest... I honestly just found that out, haha... so funny)
Per usual, Arnold is the only grown-up in the entire group and rallies them together to do better. Plus, he adds "you don't want to lose to them, do you?"
The other family is squeaky clean and the father keeps saying how everyone's perfect.
Mr. Hyunh comments "No, they're very creepy..." (He often uses this phrase "very creepy" and has a very distinct way of saying it).
And yeah, Arnold's team comes from behind to win.
Probably the funniest part: all week, Grandma has been singing "Camptown Races" and it happens to be the answer to one of the questions. She's still singing it at the time and Grandpa says "Pooky, I forbid you to sing that song ever again" just as they're given a point for a correct answer.
Casa Paradiso
When Grandpa is especially frustrated with the thankless job of taking care of the boarding house, a TV commercial provides the answer to his prayers. It's for a ritzy beach community in Florida. So he decides to sell the boarding house and move Arnold and Grandma there with him.
Arnold and the other boaders are not happy and do everything they can to change his mind. Ultimately, Grandpa is forced to change his mind when Arnold refuses to go with him. He insists the two of them and the boarders are all part of his family and he doesn't want to break them up.
Arnold might not have a traditional family, but dang does he love having them in his life.
...
Now for Oskar... I didn't realize until today just how many story arcs revolve around him, but there are a lot. Not that he deserves them because he's one of the most dishonest and unlikeable characters in the series. He's a nice guy and all, but he's a liar, cheater and rarely takes responsibility for his actions. And even after he learns his lesson, the next scheme happens and it's like he hadn't learned a thing.
Arnold as Cupid
There's one fight that ends with Suzie kicking Oskar out of their apartment and he winds up bunking out with Arnold.
"Mr. Kokoshka! That's mine!"
"Don't worry, Arnold. I can't lose..."
(next scene)
"I can't believe I lost..."
"Yeah, who knew you'd lose with a pair of threes?"
...We still quote this part to this day! Especially when we're playing poker (always for fun, never stakes)
Arnold is so annoyed about this that he goes out of his way to get Oskar and Suzie back together so he can have his room to himself again. And of course he succeeds... after a lot of trial and error and other events that happen after the ill-fated dinner.
Oskar Can't Read?
The other boarders find out Oskar can't read and make fun of him for it. Ernie and Mr. Hyunh even place a bet as to whether or not he can learn.
He begs Arnold to teach him, but when it comes to passing various tests, he takes short cuts. He has Suzie fill out his worksheets for him. And when he's challenged to read the first page of "A Tale of Two Cities," he has Chocolate Boy read it to him so he can memorize it.
Ernie sees right through this and throws him off by giving him another book and makes him read it again...
The final test: he's taken to the other side of town and he needs to read in order to find his way back home. This time, he actually manages to do so. But he's given a little extra courage when he comes across a cat that resembles the one in a children's book he read in an earlier scene.
The book is "Pet the Kitty" and he's praised for doing a good job by the librarian. However, when she insists it's someone else's turn, he starts a fight with the other kid because he wants to read more.
...yeah, by today's standards, that's actually kinda creepy. Reminds me of a scene from "Big Bang Theory" where Sheldon is trying to figure out an algorithm for making friends and he briefly kindles a friendship with a little girl at a library. And Leonard has to tell him afterwards why that might not be such a good idea.
Two other ones I remembered earlier today:
Baby Oskar
When Suzie's sister asks her to babysit her baby, whom she named before knowing the other Oskar existed. Oskar is all bent out of shape because Suzie isn't paying any attention to him and of course the two of them having the same name is confusing.
At one point, he's left alone with the baby and the baby gets sick and he has to find his way to a hospital to help him.
Oskar Gets a Job
...I know. Shocking, right?
Apparently Oskar owes someone money and needs to have it by a deadline "or else." Suzie doesn't have it and none of the boarders want to lend him anything.
Somehow, he winds up getting a paper route. But when it comes to actually working, he makes excuses and Arnold does it for him.
Eventually he does get around to do it himself... but I'm foggy on how that comes about.
...
That's it for now.
Next: a little tribute to Arnold's kooky but loving grandparents.
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