All Is Forgiven

I'm glad to see I'm not the only one who remembers this show. I enjoyed it a lot, not to mention I'm the same age as Shawnee Smith and had a thing for her. Two lines in the show that stick out for me are when Carol Kane's character said, "You've caught me between social engagements; my debutant party and my funeral." There's also the exchange between Bess Armstrong and her husband, when Bess has booked a vacation to Mexico, but he says he has some news for her. Enthused for her planned trip, she insists he sings the news to her, so to the tune of "Aye Yai Yai Yai," they sing:

Matt: You know my daughter.

Paula: Her name is Sonia Russell.

Matt: Well she got kicked out of school again and she's come to live with us forever.

In one scene, Paula and another character are dealing with some problem when a third person interrupts them (I told you that my memories were vague). Paula protests that they can't deal with the interloper's problem because they are too busy dealing with their own. "We have whales to fry!" I love that expression and occasionally use it myself. In another episode, Oliver has been a writer on the show for some time but has been very frugal with his increased salary. His co-workers encourage to splurge with some of his money and treat himself to a new car. He goes out and buys a high-end sports car that is way outside his price range. Now his friends advise him to return the car and get out of the financial obligation. "You can't just return a car like this; they won't take it back!", he protests. Nicolette Bingham, Carol Kane's character, replies in her honeyed southern accent, "Why, Oliver, if you simply inform them that you won't be making the payments, I'm sure that they will be happy to take it back."

Having read the other comments, I have to mention two very funny scenes I still remember from this show. (I do remember also the one where everyone is humming the "Tennessee Waltz" over the intercom.) One scene I remember is when the new head writer comes aboard and meets the soap opera diva. The diva wants to get heads up on what the plots will be, so the writer, who doesn't want to get into trouble, fishes for bribes of new clothing from her by saying (roughly) "Well, you know I would give you the 16 neck, 34 sleeve shirt from my back, but I don't want to be caught with my 32 waist, 34 inseam pants down. Now I'm sure you know that if the size 12 shoe was on the other foot, I couldn't give you any information about upcoming plots." The other moment I remember fondly is where the daughter is on a curfew and explains that she couldn't get home in time for her curfew because she promised a dance to a boy, but the band played 'Stairway to Heaven' - the long version - "and (she explains), you know, you can't dance to that" so she had to wait for a song she could dance to even though she kept telling the boy "I have a curfew." Oh, another moment I remember is when the Bess Armstong character has asked the new (somewhat dim) soap opera actress to go participate in the opening of a new mall, and she runs her opening speech by Bess Armstrong which starts "Welcome to the new _____ mall. Even though shopping malls represent the worst kind of commercialism that is the ruin of our society, I welcome you." Bess Armstrong says that she didn't realize that this was an ethical point with that actress and says she'll try to find someone else whose feeling about shopping malls is a little more positive and the actress says, doubtfully, "okay, if there is such a person." The writing on this show was superb, even though the plots were sometimes a little flimsy. I would love to see episodes of this again.

Bess Armstrong is newly married to Terrence KNox and he has a daughter from his first marriage. Shawnee Smith (currently on Becker) was the scene stealing daughter, Sonia. Things were very tense between Armstrong and her new step daughter. Armstrong: "I'm going down to the studio. The video machine just chewed up tomorrow's episode." Smith: "Why? are you going to thank it?"

The other scene Stealer was Carol Kane as the southern Nicholette Bingham, the writer of the show. "The old producer and I used to have heated arguments about the contents of the show. Yes. I felt the show should HAVE some."

Armstrong was to be the center of this universe, but sadly, when neither Smith nor Kane were onscreen, it was boring. ONe episode that guested Gwen Verdon was especially dull. I did not know David Alan Grier was the repair man who got promoted to writer on the show.

The never seen Creator of "All Is Forgiven" the Agnes Dixon/Gloria Monty type overseer who was never shown, we always heard her on the intercom system, asked Armstrong who had just come in for the secretary job, "How long have you been with us, dear?" before she made Armstrong the new producer. Judith Marie-Bergin did what she was supposed to do as the soap diva. The table reading where the terrorist turned out to be (gasp!) Arthur, her psychologist, was hilarious. Deborah Richter, who auditioned in the first episode, spoke to Armstrong. "Are you here for the part of the prostitute turned Senator?" Later, Richter's character obviously got popular, so she giggly informed Armstrong that she needed a dressing room now, because "Today, . . . I have to change!" All I can say is Shawnee Smith and Carol Kane were leagues ahead of the rest. Grier might have been able to contribute but at that time it apparently wasn't clear what he was capable of doing. Still would be good to see this show again tho.

All Is Forgiven was one of the funniest sitcoms of the 80's and almost no one saw it. Yanked by NBC after only a few episodes to make room for the insipid (and thankfully short lived) 'The Tortellis', it had a brief rerun on cable (A&E?) and now, alas, is gone. I'm happy to say that I have most of the episodes on tape. This had the potential to be another "Cheers" or "Murphy Brown" with an outstanding cast including Bess Armstrong, Terence Knox, Shawnee Smith, David Alan Grier and the WONDERFUL Carol Kane. In the unlikely even it pops up again on cable, watch it, TAPE IT! and LAUGH!