Two Silver Spoons and a Lady

I spent a lot of the day playing phone tag again, this time with the State of New Jersey. I tried three times and couldn't get an actual human being to talk with me on the phone. I want to know what's going on with my money and why I only got eighty dollars. The first time I waited...and they said there was no one available. The second time and third time, I got an automated voice and couldn't remember how to get to a human. Between this and all the fun I had with the Union and Comcast last month, I'm really regretting the invention of automatic voice systems.

Between computer work and calls, I ran one of the two disc of Silver Spoons episodes Lauren sent me a while back. She taped them off what was then her local UPN station, so they're not complete, but there's enough to give me the general idea. Ricky Stratton (Ricky Schroder), who has spent most of his life in boarding school, now lives with his wealthy father Edward (Joel Higgins) who owns a toy company. Ricky finds himself often playing grown man to his child-like father, who toots around on a model train and has arcade games in his living room. Ricky is determined to pair him with his smart, attractive secretary (Erin Gray) and reconcile him with his workaholic father (John Houseman).

Much to my surprise, the show has dated fairly well. While episodes about Mr. T being Ricky's bodyguard and computer technology that can allow a 12-year-old to hack into the government's files marks this firmly as a product of the early 80s, the father-son dynamic remains unique and a delight to watch. Also interesting is the sheer amount of talent involved. In addition to Gray, Schroder, and Houseman, Jason Bateman and Alfonso Ribiera (of The Fresh Prince of Bel Air) also went on to become stars (and excellent actors). It's a shame Sony has only released the first season of this one on DVD to date; let's hope Shout!Factory or another company can pick up and release the remaining seasons.

I also cleaned up a bit from the storm around the apartment. The porch was finally dry enough for me to sweep the mountains of leaves and sticks away. I moved the bike and trash and recycling canisters back to the path next to the stairs to my apartment. There really isn't much I can do about the yard. I need to see if I can corral Andrew or another relative of his into cleaning up the branches and leaves.