BACK IN THE GAME: I'LL SLIDE HOME FOR CHRISTMAS {SERIES FINALE} (TV)
Summary
One in this comedy series about a single mother coaching her son’s Little League baseball team while simultaneously dealing with her father, an alcoholic and irate ex-baseball player.
Christmas is approaching, and both Terry and Danny want to do their best to make each others’ Christmas special; Terry wants to give Danny the kind of traditional Christmas her mother always provided for her, while Danny wants to get Terry the “perfect Christmas gift.” Terry’s team is scheduled to play a game on Christmas, and she is rather excited at the prospect, although the rest of the team does not share her enthusiasm and forfeits the game immediately, freeing them up for Christmas. Despite this setback, Terry still wants to go forward with her Christmas plans with Danny, and becomes increasingly fixated on Christmas. She purchases a large animate talking Santa decoration, which the Cannon attacks with a baseball bat in the middle of the night, as he disparages her plans for Christmas; he plans to have his friends over for a poker game as he does every year, and they argue about his absence from her family’s Christmases over the years. The Cannon still wants to have his poker game, but Terry believes it would interfere with her desire to spend Christmas with Danny.
Terry and the Cannon divide the house amongst themselves and each try to enact their plans on their side. Terry becomes upset when she finds out that the Cannon hired exotic dancers to come over for himself and his friends. She takes Danny to the mall to get a photograph with a mall Santa, although Danny is embarrassed since he is much older than the other children in line. Terry gets into an argument with the mall Santa when he goes on break just before they get the chance to take a photograph, and further complications ensue when the mall Santa suddenly collapses due to his diabetes. Furthermore, Terry’s car gets towed away with all the presents she purchased in its trunk. Meanwhile, the Cannon’s friends arrive for their poker game, and thank the Cannon for facilitating their entertainment. As they wait for a bus home, Danny tells his mother that she needs to divest herself of her fixation on having a “perfect Christmas.” Meanwhile, the Cannon and his friends have their poker game, and they note that they do not communicate with their children as much as they would like.
Terry ends up taking Danny to Lulu’s Christmas party, and Terry is relieved to be in a place festooned with Christmas decorations, hoping that she can enjoy a real Christmas with Danny there. Danny still does not know what to get for Terry as a Christmas present. Later, Terry has a meltdown when Lulu’s karaoke machine doesn’t have her favorite Christmas song, and she goes on a rant about how disastrous her Christmas has been and the problems in her life, particularly her team’s forfeiture of their game. This outburst gives Danny inspiration on what to get Terry for Christmas, and the next morning he reveals his “gift:” he convinces the team to reverse their forfeiture and play a game on Christmas Day. The Cannon’s friends find out that Terry is living with him, and call him out for not spending time with his family; they point out that their annual get-together was only created because they had no one else to spend Christmas with. This motivates the Cannon to attend the baseball game.
Danny and the rest of the team are being beaten badly, but Terry tells him that she is happy because they didn’t quit. Danny realizes that the team will not win, but tries to motivate them to at least score a single run along with the Cannon’s encouragement. The Cannon admits to Terry that he grew depressed over the holidays when her mother died and she left, and tells her that his friends helped him realize how important she is to him. Danny makes a bunt which causes the team to get a run batted in, leaving Terry, the Cannon, and the entire team ecstatic. Dick arrives to compliment Terry for teaching her team never to give up, and reveals that he recovered her car and all her presents from the impound lot. The Gannon family and friends all reconvene at their house to celebrate Christmas together. Includes commercials.
Details
- NETWORK: ABC
- DATE: December 11, 2013 8:30 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 00:30:00
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: 115122
- GENRE: Comedy
- SUBJECT HEADING: Comedy
- SERIES RUN: ABC - TV series, 2013
- COMMERCIALS:
- TV – Commercials – Bank of America credit cards
- TV – Commercials – Best Buy electronics
- TV – Commercials – Burlington Coat Factory clothing store
- TV – Commercials – Ferrero Rocher chocolates
- TV – Commercials – JCPenney department stores
- TV – Commercials – Jared jewelers
- TV – Commercials – Kay jewelers
- TV – Commercials – Macy’s department stores
- TV – Commercials – Miss Dior perfume
- TV – Commercials – Olive Garden restaurants
- TV – Commercials – Pace salsa
- TV – Commercials – Toys ‘R’ Us toy stores
- TV – Commercials – Verizon phone service
- TV – Commercials – Volkswagen automobiles
- TV – Commercials – Zicam cold medicine
- TV – Commercials – Ziploc plastic bags
- TV – Commercials – “Frozen” motion picture
- TV – Commercials – “Saving Mr. Banks” motion picture
- TV – Commercials – “The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug” motion picture
- TV – Commercials – “Walking with Dinosaurs” motion picture
- TV – Promos – “Barbara Walters’ The 10 Most Fascinating People of 2013”
- TV – Promos – “Last Man Standing”
- TV – Promos – “Modern Family”
- TV – Promos – “Suburgatory”
- TV – Promos – “The Neighbors”
CREDITS
- Glen Ficarra … Executive Producer
- John Requa … Executive Producer
- Aaron Kaplan … Executive Producer
- Robb Cullen … Executive Producer, Created by, Theme Music by
- Mark Cullen … Executive Producer, Created by, Theme Music by
- Warren Lieberstein … Co-Executive Producer
- Joe Lawson … Supervising Producer
- Charlie Gogolak … Producer
- Daisy Gardner … Producer
- Don Tardino … Producer
- Erin Scotto … Associate Producer
- Gregg Mettler … Consulting Producer
- Jenny Bicks … Consulting Producer
- Neil Goldman … Consulting Producer
- Garrett Donovan … Consulting Producer
- Lev L. Spiro … Director
- Corinne Kingsbury … Writer
- Ryan Beveridge … Music by, Theme Music by
- Maggie Lawson … Cast, Terry Gannon, Jr.
- James Caan … Cast, Terry "The Cannon" Gannon, Sr.
- Griffin Gluck … Cast, Danny Gannon
- Benjamin Koldyke … Cast, Dick Slingbaugh
- Lenora Crichlow … Cast, Lulu Fernandez-Lovette
- Kennedy Waite … Cast, Vanessa
- J.J. Totah … Cast, Michael Lovette
- Cooper Roth … Cast, David Slingbaugh
- Brandon Salgado-Telis … Cast, Dudley Douglas
- Brian Doyle-Murray … Cast, Stinky Pete
- Richard Grant … Cast, Earl
- Elliott Gould … Cast, Louie
- Theodore Barnes … Cast, Hunter
- Augie Isaac … Cast, Owen
- Sepehr Pazoki … Cast, Parvu
- Benjamin Royer … Cast, Vince
- Matthew Royer … Cast, Vance
- Hector Santiago … Cast, Angel
- Matthew Zhang … Cast, Dong
- Tom Simmons … Cast, Stan
- Alvin Cowan … Cast, Coach Al
- Dre Michael Chaney … Cast, Umpire
- Kalia Marlu … Cast, Goth Person
- Roscoe Freeman … Cast, Karaoke Operator
- Allison Ochmanek … Cast, First Noel
- Rosalie McIntire … Cast, Noel
- Kevin Thompson … Cast, Elf
- Keith Dobbins … Cast, Santa Claus