Cavender Is Coming

Description: Season 3, Episode 36

Air Date: May 25, 1962

Plot Summary: A hopeless dimwit is given everything she wants after meeting her guardian angel.

Review: While this episode bares an uncanny resemblance to "Mr. Bevis," it has its own, unique goofiness presented by Carol Burnett. Also, it boasts the triumphant return of potato pancakes, and you can't go wrong there. We get the same spiel about a dork, whose life is pathetic, followed by their guardian angel coming to change things up...just as with "Mr. Bevis." Obviously they want the story to be comedic, but I don't know about that. Multiple characters jump through glass unscathed--is that supposed to be funny? Yes, that infamously soft material: glass. I don't quite understand what Aggie's (Ms. Burnett) job was supposed to be; she dresses like a genie and collects tickets at a movie theater or something? I may find Ms. Burnett fugly as hell, but I wouldn't mind visiting a movie theater with genie-girls at the ready. The gags aren't all bad, however, as I liked Ms. Burnett's ridiculous expressions and a few jokes like when Aggie thinks she's being called a prostitute; Cavender himself is on the lame side though.

Needless to say, when Aggie is given a rich life, she finds herself without a friend, and, thus, less happy than before. But can't any of these goofballs dictate what they want from their guardian angel specifically? Speaking of which, what exactly constitutes the intervention of a guardian angel? Dying of cancer? Suck it up. Being blown up in a warzone? Tough shit. Having trouble holding down a job? Womp womp, here's an angel to make you rich! Come on, TZ, we didn't need a second helping of this potato pancake of a storyline. Overall, it's not a terrible episode. It has a few funny moments, and Ms. Burnett performs her brand of comedy admirably if that's your thing. For me, this would have felt better if we hadn't seen this exact tale already and it weren't so lame to begin with.