I watched Apple's Way devotedly during it's deservedly-brief run. It aired an hour before Kung Fu with David Carradine, as I remember it, which made for a wonderful double-header of inanity. On the surface, the two shows might seem very different, but they were both informed by the same sort of lame Hollywood pseudo-philosophy. George Apple never put the chop-socky on anybody, but otherwise he wasn't much different from Kung Fu's Caine. Some reviewers mention a liberal bent to the this show. It wasn't so much that it was politically liberal. It was just that everyone in the show was what the English call a "wet". If George Apple had been president, he would have been Jimmy Carter, only without the steely resolve. The show was so bad, it was painful to watch sometimes, but it was like eating a habanero pepper -- when it was finally over, you got a rush of endorphins. I got a lot of pleasure from the thought that I wouldn't have to watch it again for another week. One episode in particular stuck in my memory. The little girl in the family had been pretending to be a witch and had cast a spell on her brother in revenge for some insult. As luck or the scriptwriter would have it, the boy was hit by a car while riding his bike and the girl thought it was because of her spell. Stricken with remorse that her brother was in the hospital, the girl tried to undo the spell. George walks into her bedroom to find her tearfully chanting some mumbo-jumbo to speed the boy's recovery. George hugs her to his bosom and explains tenderly that just saying words can't make things happen to anybody. In the very next scene, the whole family gathers in the living room, kneels down on the 70's style shag carpet, and prays to God for the little boy's life. But wait -- just saying words can't make things happen! It was unintentionally hilarious moments like that that made the show worth watching.
Review of Apple's Way
