The Honeymooners – Complete Series Review – Episode 07 – Better Living Through TV

This is one of the episodes where Ralph comes up with a get rich quick scheme and drags Norton in with him.  In this case Ralph has found a deal where he can buy two thousand kitchen multi-purpose tools which can do anything from opening a can to coring “a” apple.  He can buy them for ten cents a piece and sell them for a dollar.  When Norton complains that selling two thousand tools would take forever Ralph reveals the rest of his master plan.  For a hundred dollars he and Norton can advertise the tool on television and sell all of the tools at once.

After battling Alice for his share of the needed money Ralph and Norton are ready to do their commercial.  They practice a script where Norton is the “Chef of the Past” and shows how it takes all of these separate kitchen tools to do his work and Ralph is the “Chef of the Future” who will demonstrate the handy-dandy all-in-one tool.  But before they can finish their practice the station manager tells them that their commercial has been moved up and they were going on next.

But unfortunately, Ralph develops paralyzing stage fright.  And between his bug eyes, his hopeless stammering and his complete inability to speak or successfully core “a” apple, the commercial is a complete failure.  The ending is Ralph tries to open a can and stabs himself in the hand and ends up knocking over the wall of the tv kitchen.

The whole thing sounds like a terrible mess but I think this is one of the best episodes in the whole series.  Alice, Ralph and Norton are at the top of their game and Norton’s hammy acting on the commercial and Ralph’s panic are the perfect combination for the complete collapse of Ralph’s get-rich-quick scheme.  And as Norton put it, “Another proof of a happier life through television.”