LIFE WITH BONNIE: IT'S A WONDERFUL JOB (TV)

Summary

One in this comedy series starring Bonnie Hunt as Bonnie Molloy, a Chicago woman juggling parenthood with her television career. In this episode, Bonnie and crew snack on "a spread" while discussing Secret Santa and other Christmas plans. Then, David arrives and informs everybody that, due to Bonnie's suggestion about pre-taping a Christmas show, Mr. Portinbody has taken things a step further and demanded a live show on Christmas day. Predictably, everyone is mad at Bonnie. That night, as Mark watches a holiday episode of "Eight is Enough," Bonnie puts Charlie and Frankie to bed. She then apologizes to Mark and rues her job for not allowing her to join him and the rest of the family for celebrations the next day. The following morning, Bonnie awakens to find she's in her old apartment with Dick Van Patten. Dick explains that she is now in an alternative reality where she was never a talk show host, and is still laboring at a low-paying researcher's job. Bonnie arrives at the "Morning Chicago" set to see that Holly, Marv, and Tony barely speak to each other, and don't even know her. Bonnie learns that nobody is happy with their current lives, especially David, who was demoted to producer's assistant and became an alcoholic. Then, Bonnie sees that Gloria became a down-and-out janitor at the station. Eventually, Bonnie discovers that she and Mark divorced a decade ago. Since she didn't have money from her talk show job to support him, he was unable to finish his medical training and became an EMT. Worse, Charlie was never conceived and Frankie went to a foster home. Finally, Bonnie meets the show's current host -- the vile Phyllis Frost. That's enough to cause Bonnie to snap out of the dream and wake up back in the present, in bed with Mark. The entire family then heads to the studio to celebrate Christmas, truly thankful for their blessings. On set, everyone joins in a chorus of "Auld Lang Syne." Includes commercials.

Details

NETWORK: ABC
DATE: December 12, 2003 9:30 PM
RUNNING TIME: 0:29:12
COLOR/B&W: Color
CATALOG ID: T:80359
GENRE: Comedy
SUBJECT HEADING: Comedy
SERIES RUN: ABC - TV series, 2002-2004
COMMERCIALS:
- TV - Commercials - "Cheaper by the Dozen"
- TV - Commercials - "Looney Toons: Back in Action" merchandise
- TV - Commercials - Chex party mix
- TV - Commercials - Curel moisturizer
- TV - Commercials - Forever Elizabeth perfume
- TV - Commercials - Hershey's Kisses chocolates
- TV - Commercials - JC Penney stores
- TV - Commercials - Kay Jewelers
- TV - Commercials - McDonald's restaurants
- TV - Commercials - NFL/United Way program
- TV - Commercials - Olay skin care
- TV - Commercials - Pillsbury cookies
- TV - Commercials - Red Lobster restaurants
- TV - Commercials - Sears stores
- TV - Commercials - The Home Depot stores
- TV - Commercials - White Diamonds perfume
- TV - Promos - "8 Simple Rules"
- TV - Promos - "10-8"
- TV - Promos - "20/20"
- TV - Promos - "According to Jim"
- TV - Promos - "Alias"
- TV - Promos - "Barbara Walters Presents the 10 Most Fascinating People of 2003"
- TV - Promos - "I'm With Her"
- TV - Promos - "Jimmy Kimmel Live"
- TV - Promos - "Less Than Perfect"
- TV - Promos - "Oprah in Africa: A Personal Journey: A Global Challenge"
- TV - Promos - "The Practice"
- TV - Promos - "The Wonderful World of Disney: I'll Be Home for Christmas"

CREDITS

Bonnie Hunt … Executive Producer, Director, Created by, Writer
Don Lake … Executive Producer, Created by, Writer
Frank Mula … Co-Executive Producer
Norma Safford Vela … Co-Executive Producer
Kim Tushinsky … Producer
Leo Papin … Co-Producer
Susan Silverberg … Segment Producer
Nicholas Pike … Music by, Theme Music by
John Fiorito … Music by
Anthony Russell … Music by
Bonnie Hunt … Cast, Bonnie Molloy
Mark Derwin … Cast, Dr. Mark Molloy
Charlie Stewart … Cast, Charlie Molloy
Holly Wortell … Cast, Holly
Chris Barnes … Cast, Marv
Marianne Muellerleile … Cast, Gloria
Anthony Russell … Cast, Tony Russo
Frankie Ryan Manriquez … Cast, Frankie
David Alan Grier … Cast, David Bellows
Van Patten, Dick … Cast, Himself
Phyllis Diller … Cast, Phyllis Frost
Ed Forsyth … Cast, Paramedic