Season 7 Episode 17: You Can’t Miss

February 21, 1993

Published 02/21/93

Bud goes on a dating game show called You Can’t Miss, and the show’s host explains the format in his opening remarks with a candour no real programme would permit: viewers wondering why a woman like the contestant would consider any of these men should understand that she is being paid a thousand dollars. Bud is one of the three. His competition includes a man named Rodrigo who is visibly out of his league. Bud’s strategy, when his turn comes, is complete honesty, and it is the best monologue the character gets all season: he argues that Rodrigo will treat her badly, disappear, lie and cheat, concedes that he would do all of those things himself if he looked like Rodrigo, and closes on his real selling point, which is that he has never had anyone as good as her and his rival has. Rodrigo, on camera, confirms it. Running alongside this, Al and Peg are locked in a contest of wills about who will fall asleep first, since they have not gone to bed at the same time on a Saturday in over a decade, and the two of them end up singing Brahms to each other. Kelly, meanwhile, has mixed up one day for another and concluded that the family is running a conspiracy against her. Bill Maher hosts the game show, two years before Politically Incorrect made him famous. It is one of the stronger episodes of the back half of the season, mostly because all three threads are about the same thing, which is people wanting something they are not going to get.

Episode Facts

Original air date: February 21, 1993
Season and episode: Season 7, Episode 17
Overall episode number: 148
Written by: Joel Valentincic and Scott Zimbler
Directed by: Amanda Bearse
Taped: February 12, 1993
Production note: Bill Maher guest stars as the host, two years before Politically Incorrect launched.
Title note: The name of the game show, and a play on the phrase meaning a guaranteed win.