Therapist Hopping
"Therapist Hopping" | |||
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Queen of the Willis episode | |||
Episode no. | Season 2 Episode 1/2 | ||
Directed by | Season Atkins | ||
Written by | Holly Everman Paige Allen | ||
Production code | 201/202 | ||
Original air date | November 26, 2007 | ||
Guest actors | |||
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Episode chronology | |||
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Therapist Hopping is the second season premiere episode episode of Queen of the Willis. It was first aired on November 26, 2007. The episode was written by Holly Everman and Paige Allen, and directed by Season Atkins. It is the first episode to air on INNCD 47 and NoSirGifts Fantasy Television Stations after ATE Media canceled the series after one season. It also marks the first appearance of Bart the Bully, Danielle the Bully, and Lynsay Gerardo.
Plot[edit]
When the Willis family finds out that the Friday appointment slot they have had for twelve years has been taken over by another family (revealed to be Bart and Danielle), they abandon their therapist and begin therapy at the new "Megatherapist" after auditioning other therapists. The relocation to the Megatherapist tends to occupy their lives much more than normal; as Ava describes it, "It keeps coming at you." Ava decides enough is enough and chooses to run away and try Austen's way of family therapy. Ava returns home from drinking with her nephews Baxter and Austen - while highly intoxicated - and declares she is finished with family therapy altogether. Later that night, Ava dreams of plan to return to Quill Family Therapy follwing the first fight betwwen Ava and Bart started a massive fistfight. In a meeting with Lynsay Gerardo, Ava negotiates the return of her appointment slot, the departure of Bart and Danielle (the family that earlier usurped Ava's slot) and leverages the departure of other clients in exchange for a permanent appointment slot at Quill Family Therapy.
Production[edit]
"Therapist Hopping" was the first episode of the second season of Queen of the Willis and was the first episode to have Leonard Lai providing the voice of Tom Willis.[1] Pauly Shore, the original voice of Tom, left the series due to time constraints with his film acting roles. Lai won the role after auditions and a slight rewrite of the character, in part due to his performance as an anchorman in Terre Haute, Indiana. [2] Ava Zinn, the show's primary creator, called Lai back after his first audition, instructing him to speak more slowly, and then told him to come back another time and enunciate more. Once he claimed that he had it under control, Zinn hired him.[2]
Bart the Bully was introduced in this episode. He is fat man who serves as a rival to Ava. He has a long, unexpected fight with Ava, which interrupts the main storyline.[3] This has become a running gag, having reappeared in episodes such as "Revenge of the Male Anchors 2", "Therapist Hopping 2",[4], "Meet the Pamhousers"[5] and "Ten Years To Life". He is voiced by regular show director Melvin Runecraft.
Danielle the Bully is introduced in this episode. She is a thin woman and Bart's wife who serves as a rival to Angie, and like her husband, Danielle and Angie has a long, unexpected fight with Angie, which interrupts the main storyline. This running gag has reappeared in "Ten Years To Life" and "The Story of Melissa's Mother".
Cultural references [edit]
- In the beginning of the episode, the family is late to therapy because Ava was working overtime and Tom had set the clocks incorrectly on daylights savings time. This caused Ava to say, "Tom you fall back, not fall forward!" meaning Tom set the clock an hour forward, rather than an hour back.
- At the Broken Boilermaker, Ava and Bianca (then Baxter) sing along with "Glamorous," a single from Fergie.
- As Ava and the family try another new therapist, Ava opens the door only to hear "Day By Day," then closes it and walks away. "Day By Day" is a hymn based on a prayer ascribed to the 13th century bishop St. Richard of Chichester and was a standard in many hymnals. The version that we hear in the episode, however, is from the 1971 musical "Godspell" with music by Stephen Schwartz.
- This is one of the few episodes where Ava is visibly drunk. The others include The Unbearable Homophobia of Laying, Buckeye Ava, Ava and Angela Willis: Celebrating 20 Years and What Happens on Aeverine Willis' Facebook Profile, Stays on Aeverine Willis' Facebook Profile. She's also seen visibly drunk at a much younger age through a flashback in Quillsville Cold Case: Albert Willis.