by Linda Kay
Original Air Date: May 31, 1984
Directed by: Gary Shimokawa
Cat Out of the Bag Alert! This review contains spoilers for this episode!
Synopsis: Judge Harry Stone (Harry Anderson) presides over a case in which a woman has to make a difficult choice between her current husband and the one who suddenly returns after having been presumably killed in the Vietnam war.
Cat Burglar (Scene Stealer): A subplot of the episode has Harry’s assistant Charley Tracy (D.D. Howard) throwing away his lucky rabbit’s foot. Harry learns this right before the case is about to begin and tells Charley not to worry about it, that he’ll be fine. Suddenly a black cat jumps onto the bench and runs back and forth in front of Harry, Charley, Dan (John Larroquette) and Liz (Paula Kelly).
During the case Dan accidently gets punched by the returned husband. Harry runs into his chambers to get some ice from a small fridge. When he turns around he sees the black cat sitting on his couch.
Harry points back to the fridge and tells the cat, “Brown bag . . . tuna . . . help yourself.”
Harry starts to leave the room then turns back and adds, “Did I mention it was on whole wheat?” The cat looks perplexed.
Later on Harry is walking down the hallway when he sees the black cat sitting nearby.
Harry starts scolding the cat, saying the intimidation is just not working and that no real bad luck has befallen him since losing his rabbit’s foot.
A man walking down the corridor stops and eyes Harry strangely. Harry covers by telling the cat to “Roll over!” When the cat doesn’t respond Harry sighs to the man, “Give me a dog any day!” and walks away.
The man starts to walk by the cat which yowls angrily at him (dubbed in), causing him to turn and walk back the way he came.
After Harry’s rabbit foot is found he stands in the hallway holding it. Suddenly we hear the cat cry as a black ball of fur falls down the mail chute behind Harry.
Finally Harry is back in his chambers and opens the window to place a bowl of milk on the windowsill. The black cat appears and starts to lap up the milk.
“Well, eighteen floors into a nice, soft mailbag . . . you only got eight left, pal,” Harry states.
Final Mewsings: Maybe the cat was just trying to replace the good luck Harry had lost?
Many thanks to Stevie Holcomb for letting us know about the cat in this episode.
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