Blood, Sweat and Circuits

Synopsis

Sherwood is frustrated with technology and challenges Bruno to come up with a show that demonstrates the value of computers. At the same time The School board decide to replace Mrs Berg with a new computer but suddenly that computer is stolen!

Meanwhile Brenda Vaccaro shows up at the school for a Q&A sessions and David has a hectic schedule rehearsing for an off Broadway show.

My Review

Lee Curreri really was working pretty hard on the show at this point. He’d been in every episode so far this season and in most of them had had his own plot. He only actually missed one episode this year. Here he not only writes the episode, and the music the dancers are dancing to but gives himself a lead part in the story. It is reported that the idea of the story came from a 1957 film called "The Desk Set"

I like the concept of this episode and in many ways it’s about the same topic that Bruno and Shorofsky have been fighting about since the series started, embracing modern technology. However, this episode does now feel a little dated by the appearance of the computer and how many huge boxes do they need to set it up?

There are some very funny parts particularly surrounding Mrs Berg trying to learn how to use the computer. I love the look on Mrs Berg’s face when she presses a key and a voice says “hello Mrs Berg” and initially she thinks it’s the computer talking to her!

Personally I think the main story should have just been Bruno and friends trying to rise to Sherwood’s challenge of a production number with no human involvement because as soon as we get into the computer is replacing Mrs Berg the story becomes a little silly. As Bruno found out the computer can’t work without human input, so yes the computer in the office may speed up some of the tasks Mrs Berg has to do and make her records more efficient but if she’s sacked who will put the information into the computer, who would answer the phone? Who would be responsible for taking all the dancers shoes to the shows (see the review of Sunshine Again)? This is 2013 and I'm not aware of any computer running a school office on it’s own even today so how was it possible back in 1983? Had they stuck to the school board was reducing Mrs Berg’s hours and thus her pay and she was going to have to leave to find a job that gave her more money then the story would have made sense but not to replace her completely. I'm interested to know if this is how Lee originally wrote the episode or if he had to change the story to add more so called drama!

Also I don’t like how everyone found out the news. Wouldn't the board of education have told Mrs Berg themselves or at least sent a letter addressed to her? Here we have a delivery man bring a letter addressed to the school. There’s no one in the office (well the computer is there, if it’s to replace Mrs Berg shouldn't the computer be opening the mail?!) so he gives it to the first teacher he can find who opens it and then the 4 main teachers have to decide who tells Mrs Berg. This is not how things work in the real world and silly things like this spoil a good story line.

Same thing happens at the end of the show when Lydia decides the dance department will have the computer and therefore Mrs Berg’s job is safe. If the board wanted to get rid of Mrs Berg it would take more than Lydia snapping at the computer instructor, played by Albert’s wife, to solve the problem. The ending to this part of the story is very weak.

However the end of the episode is good as Bruno puts on a show of a different kind and proves that computers and humans have to work together to produce this kind of work. Then Shorofsky and Mrs Berg go off to listen to their kind of music, written by Albert Hague. I do love Ann Nelson and there is a scene where Mrs Berg tells Miss Sherwood that anyone can see how hard she works and how much she cares about her job and the school and no one would get rid of her if they saw that. It’s really sweet and beautifully played.

Something bizarre happens in this episode where there is a question and answer session with Brenda Vaccaro who plays herself. I have to say I hadn't and still have no idea who she is. It’s bizarre because the scene has no relevance to the episode at all. The scene has a different feel and I'm not sure if it’s scripted or improvised but my feeling is that it is pretty much improvised. David Greenlee tries to make the scene relevant to the episode by asking a question about modern technology but for me it feels totally out of place. It’s Guest star syndrome gone completely wrong as they want this person in the episode but don’t know what to do with her so have her answer a few questions as herself. There is no other mention of her either before or after the session and we then return to the episode as normal.

Another odd thing is that Doris mentions that there were 300 people in the auditorium. It certainly doesn't look like it can possibly hold 300 people to me.

Then there is a continuity issue in the cafeteria scene where Mrs Berg is trying to get to grips with the computer manual. Mrs Berg is alone reading the manual out loud and there is an extra in a blue shirt and brown waistcoat sat at the same table. Miss Sherwood arrives and starts to talk to Mrs Berg and the extra gets up to leave. However in the next shot we have a close up of Mrs Berg and the extra is still sat down and then gets up to leave again.

Update: Having read the script I can see that the original guest actor was supposed to be David Steinberg. This was obviously changed at some point to Brenda Vaccaro but there is no mention of this in the script. I've always found the guest question and answer session a little odd and was interested to note that the questions are not actually scripted. The script gives examples of what the main kids might ask but not the actual questions involved. I've always felt that this part was improvised but I can't say for sure if it was or if the questions were thought up and given to the cast at the time or they were allowed, within the guidelines of the script to make them up themselves.

Episode Pictures