4.2 Midnight Sun

 

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Original Air Date: October 5, 1992 Production Number: 77610
Written by:
Geoffrey NeigherDirected by: Michael Katleman

Maurice: I didn't know you Jewish people were tall enough to care about basketball.

Log line (1): Joel is "light loony" and, with his enormous amount of excess energy, coaches the Cicely Quarks in their annual basketball game against Sleetmute. An old friend drops in to visit Ruth-Anne and outfits the town from his collection of fashionable ensembles.

Synopsis (1):

Joel unknowingly becomes "light loony" during his first experience with twenty-four-hour sunlight. As a result, the usually dismal doctor is excessively happy and energetic. After not sleeping for days, he is amazed...that he is not even tired. When asked to coach the "Quarks," Cicely's town basketball team, he is thrilled to have a place to funnel his energy. "Coach" Fleischman gives the team everything he's got and more in an effort to beat Sleetmute in the annual game. Unfortunately, nature sees to it that Joel never has the opportunity to experience his moment of glory.

Gillis Toomey (guest star Jim Haynie), a traveling apparel salesman and old friend of Ruth-Anne's, visits Cicely for the first time in many years. The townspeople immediately welcome his return and are excited about shopping in his trailer full of wonderful garments. Gillis decides he would like to be more than a friend to Ruth-Anne and proposes marriage to her.

Background:
(Production Bible)
24 hours round the clock light has Joel in a hyper-active, euphoric sexually charged state. He finds himself with unbound energy, much of it secual and directed at Maggie. The spirits of Cicely's basketball team, the Quarks, are flagging. After Joel excitedly declares his love of basketball, Maurice names him the new coach. Clothing salesman, Gillis Toomey, a sweet-looking man in his early sixties, returns to town. Gillis is enamoured of Ruth-Anne and while selling her a new white dress, asks her to marry him. Ruth-Anne politely declines, but is persuaded to kiss the cahrming haberdasher. The sight of Shelly in her cheerleading outfit puts Holling in the mood to do the wild thing, but Shelly is incensed by Holling's insensitivity, and informs Holling that her uniform stands for P-R-I-D-E. Tell 'em, Shelly.
Details:
(Production Bible)

Shelly idolized another cheerleader, Elyssa Carpenter of the Calgary Cannons. Bernard shows up yearly for the basketball season. Joel went to Camp Indian Head in his youth. Maurice has another brilliant scheme - capitalize on the sun and make Cicely "God's Health Spa." Ruth-Anne's not a great kisser.

Guest stars (9):

Gillis Toomey - Jim Haynie
Bernard - Richard Cummings Jr.

Music:
(Note music listed is from the original TV airings. The DVD may differ.)

Glow Worm - The Mills Brothers
[A basketball bounces though town.]

Badi, Badi from "Don Giovanni" (Mozart)
[Gillis visits Ruth-Anne's store.]

Alma Mater
[Bernard talks about Gillis' fashions.]

Roll Along Kentucky Moon -Leon Redbone
[Joel sketches a gameplan, Shelly practices her cheers.]

Saturday Game
[Joel reads from his version of "Casey at the Bat" - basketball style.]

The Bed You Made for Me - Highway 101
[Holling and Shelly talk.]

Won't You Let Me Go - Buckwheat Zydeco
[Holling and Shelly talk about cheering.]

Don't Mind If I Do - George Strait
[Gillis dances with Ruth-Anne.]


Shelly’s Earrings: Basketballs [Pep talks Chris and Bernard in Brick.]
Silver Suns (?) with dangles [Yells at Holling about cheering is not nookie.]

Something round and dangly (?) [Party for Gillis.]
Additional Notes:

I have a Quarks T-shirt, and Chris' basketball uniform.

Footnotes and additional research

 

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