Season: 2 (The Sonny & Cher Show)
Episode:  24
Guest(s): John Davidson, Karen Valentine
CBS Air Date: January 2 1977
Also aired: TVLand

Full Episode Index

 

Opening Song: “You Gotta Make Your Own Sunshine” (Video)
Cover of Neil Sedaka (1976)
Cher wears a velvet corset top and a full, colorful paneled skirt. This is one of my favorite Cher-fits of this series. Sonny wears a red jacket with a black shirt and looks very nice as well. Cher twirls and plays with her dress again this week. She wiggles around in her crumb catcher. (Fashion funnies.)

Breakout:  Alvin is in the bar alone with Herbie talking about his upcoming wedding and inviting Sonny & Cher to the ceremony. He’s disappointed when the TV shows them clearly working instead. Alvin tells the Herbie, “They’re not supposed to be on television!” Zeigler replies, “Well, I agree with you, but there they are…on television!” (Ha!)

Opening Banter: They shake hands. Cher shows how she can move around inside but her dress stays in place. She says she can probably turn completely around without the dress moving. She  makes her own small boobs joke before Sonny can get to it. Sonny plays with her hair.

Cher just got a new cockatiel bird Chastity has named Noonie. Sonny apparently also has a parrot named Mango. “We always have things in common,” Sonny says, “even though we try to avoid having things in common.” It sounds like Sonny has a cold. Sonny & Cher say they have things in common because they’re just common, run-of-the-mill folk. Sonny then decides that Cher isn’t so common of folk but Cher protests that deep down she is. Sonny agrees that Cher is getting more domestic (which reminds me of her exclamation in the movie Good Times: “You knew when you met me I wasn’t the domestic type!”) and he’s getting a little more frivolous. Cher says she’s been hearing stories about that around town and they laugh. Cher’s not sure she likes being more domestic. Sonny asks how painting her smaller house is coming along. Cher tries to get the conversation back on script and rolls her eyes. Sonny catalogues all their tribulations over the last year and how they’re now relating on a new level.  Cher says, “Our relationship never ceases to amaze me.”

Sonny asks Cher about “the other half” (Gregg Allman). They talk about how big he is. Sonny asks if Gregg is violent. (And here the conversation gets a bit weird.) Cher claims that “when you’re big you don’t have to be violent.”  They both agree that Gregg is calm and quiet. Sonny says, “He never says a damn thing to me.” Cher says, “He thinks you’re a swell guy.” Cher complains that she sees Sonny now more than she sees anyone else in her life (due to working on this show). Sonny jokes, “I keep popping up like a cork.” Cher quips, “or a wart or something you just can’t get rid of.”

Sonny tells Cher he’s received something she just wouldn’t believe and Cher wonders if this means a fan letter that wasn’t written by his mother. Sonny opens a wedding invitation. Cher interjects that she would be happy to give Sonny away at the wedding. Sonny says, “You already gave me away., remember?”

Sonny claims 60 million people are watching. Then he laughs and changes the number to 50 or 40 and Cher quips 3-and a-half. The invitation says, “We fell in love while watching your show.” It was singed Laverne Lashinsky and Alvin Capalov who have invited Sonny & Cher to their wedding at Herbie’s Bar.

Breakout 2: We cut to Alvin at the bar very excited the Sonny has mentioned his name on TV.

Sonny says the wedding should bring their two lovebird fans luck but Cher says their own wedding didn’t bring them any luck.

Medley of 1976 TV Theme Songs (Audio)
I’ve starred this of course.  it’s got Sonny & Cher singing my favorite TV show themes. It ticks all the boxes.

  • The Jeffersons sung by show chorus. (Cher in an afro wig.)
  • Welcome Back Kotter sung by Cher, Sonny, John Davidson and Karen Valentine and show chorus. (Cher in pigtails, Sonny as Gabe.) (Cover of John Sebastian, 1976)
  • Maude (“And Then There’s Maude,” 1972) sung by show chorus, Cher and Sonny. (Cher as Maude, Sonny as Walter.)
  • Chico & the Man sung by the show chorus, John Davidson. (John Davidson and Ted Zeigler in a skit.)
  • Laverne & Shirley (“Making Our Dreams Come True”) sung by show chorus, Cher and Karen Valentine. (Cher as Laverne and Karen Valentine as Shirley.) (Cover of Cyndi Grecco, 1976)
  • Happy Days sung by show chorus, Sonny and John Davidson, Cher and Karen Valentine. (Sonny and John Davidson both as a Fonz.)
  • Barretta sung by show chorus and Sonny. (Sonny as Barretta.)
  • The Mary Tyler Moore Show sung by show chorus and Karen Valentine. (Karen Valentine against a green screen and a rain of hats.)
  • The Tonight Show (instrumental)
  • The Carol Burnett Show (“I’m So Glad We Had This Time Together,” 1967)  sung by Sonny & Cher. (Cher doing an ear wiggle.)
  • The Sonny & Cher Show (“The Beat Goes On”) sung by the show cast and Sonny & Cher, Karen Valentine and John Davidson. The show is trying to get their theme song into the list of the great-late 1970s TV themes. Erm. Despite it being the show’s theme, I never think of it as a theme song. My notes say Sonny is doing a bad job keeping up with his own song. Oy,

Gone with the Wind
A 60-second version of the 4-hour movie. Last week’s ratings of the movie clobbered this show so this is their retaliation spoof. Cher plays Scarlet O’Hara and Sonny plays Rhett Butler. Melanie is played in drag. Cher slaps Sonny but he can’t say “Frankly, I don’t give a damn,” he says, rather because it’s family hour.

Cher Solo: “As Time Goes By” (Video)
From the movie Casablanca (1942)
Cher wears a white halter dress and a head wrap. Nice backdrops of Humphrey Bogart drawings and double exposures. I’ve starred this.

Laverne: Alvin and Laverne are getting ready for their wedding and John Davidson is the minister. There’s a gay bar joke and a divorce joke. The cake is make of Twinkies. Laverne’s sister Lavonne is there. Their full names are read as part of the vows: Laverne Louise Lashinsky and Alvin Earnest Capalov. Laverne wears a green jumpsuit. They use the lyrics of “I Got You Babe” as their wedding vows.

After the wedding, Sonny & Cher show up. (They came! Why am I excited about this?) Cher wears a red wrap and looks very glamourous. Herbie tells them that Laverne and Alvin have already left for their honeymoon but they’ve left them with something very special in case they showed up. It’s the bill for the whole wedding.

Channel 86 Cutsey News
Sonny, Cher, John Davidson and Karen Valentine play silly, tipsy anchors. Cher wears a curly short wig. They throw shade at each other.

+ Karen Valentine plays the first female reporter in a football locker room. (Sonny shirtless alert.)

+ John Davidson plays the first attorney (Lou Shyster) to advertise on television. There’s a Ricardo Montalban joke. They reference the McDonald’s jingle, “You Deserve a Break Today” and the Mikey Mouse Club.

IGUB (Video, 11:32)
Full closing. They thank their guests. Sonny says what a good song “I Got You Babe” is while he sings it. Cher makes fun of Sonny’s hand gestures. Sonny talks about how “I Got You Babe” might soon replace “The Star Spangled Banner” and covers his mouth.

 

Thanks to Jay for the official run-down on this episode. Online guides have this episode airing on December 19, 1976 but Jay has referenced the original TV Guide airdate which says January 2, 1977. Jay also notes that the original TV Guide lists a solo by John Davidson, “A Little Bit More” but due to the already-long running time (TV Land version) and the fact that this spot was also missing from TVLand, it was likely cut before the original show aired in 1977.

Highlights: Well, I guess we should be happy Laverne and Alvin have tied the knot. The monologue is full of personal chit-chat. Good Cher solo and TV theme number.

Related: Cher being adorable on The John Davidson Show in 1981.