I'll eat a bug!

[David Roper]

While the TV show Cheers is considered a classic, its spinoff The Tortellis is almost forgotten, many say mercifully. It so happens I never got into Cheers, either then or at any time over these many years in reruns. Yet I did watch The Tortellis.

How does that work? Well, Nick Tortelli was a TV repairman by trade and one early episode concerned a TV advertisement he appeared in for his business. Making the declaration that he could repair any TV set, he promises to "eat a bug" if he can't fix yours.

One night Zelda Rubinstein and son show up at his door. They've seen the ad and want to put him to the test. As seen in promos for that week's episode, the son wheels in a 1948 Admiral on a hand truck. Turning to the mom Nick says "Madam, that is a genu-wine antique!" "It's genuine crap!" says Zelda.

A vintage TV being so prominently displayed in a show, much less central to the plot, was a much rarer treat in 1987 than it is now with the internet providing a vintage TV fix anytime. They almost couldn't have picked a worse set to depict as a lemon that never worked right, but hey, it's TV. Whaddya want, realism?

Did this stir anybody's recollection?