Carter & Stuart & Bennett & Deirdre 

Stuart befriends Carter's ex-boyfriend Bennett, so Carter takes revenge by befriending Deidre. Subbing for absent Stacey, temp Gayle thinks Mike is coming on to her. James starts writing a City Hall newsletter.

Director:

Andy Cadiff

Writers:

Gary David Goldberg (created by), Bill Lawrence (created by)

Stars:

Michael J. Fox, Richard Kind, Alan Ruck

Cast

Episode complete credited cast:
Michael J. Fox	...	Mike Flaherty
Richard Kind	...	Paul Lassiter
Alan Ruck	...	Stuart Bondek
Michael Boatman	...	Carter Heywood
Connie Britton	...	Nikki Faber
Alexander Chaplin	...	James Hobert
Victoria Dillard	...	Janelle Cooper
Jennifer Esposito	...	Stacey Paterno (credit only)
Barry Bostwick	...	The Mayor
Beth Littleford	...	Deirdre West
Clayton Prince	...	Bennet
Carrie Preston	...	Gayle
Faith Prince	...	Claudia Lassiter

Storyline

Stacey's haughty temp interim Gayle believes herself so sexy that Mike, who finally tried to semi-publicly display affection unwittingly, must be in love with her, not 'pale' Nikki. Editor James has no success trying to collect newsletter contributions firm his colleagues, so the mayor decides to give him assertiveness training, which rather backfires. Carter is finally ready to dump closet-gay boxer Bennett, but Stuart won't let him get away without scoring free tickets. As revenge, Carter brings in Deirder, which backfires.

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Plot Keywords:

newsletter | free ticket | interim | assertiveness | temp worker | 

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Genres:

Comedy

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

13 April 1999 (USA)

Filming Locations:

New York City, New York, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Ubu Productions, Lottery Hill Entertainment, DreamWorks Television

Technical Specs

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Michael J. Fox (Mike Flaherty) & Carrie Preston (Gayle) also worked together on episode 6.6, The Good Wife: Old Spice (2014), of The Good Wife (2009) as Louis Canning & Elsbeth Tascioni respectively.

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Goofs

The characters mention Mike Tyson may or may not be able to fight in a few months, if he gets out of prison early. In 1999 Tyson was already released from prison and was under no threat of returning for any reason.

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Quotes

Carter: [having arguement about them being friends with each others ex's] You will regret this.
[talking about Bennett]
Carter: One day he will annoy you.
Stuart: [talking about deirdre] One day she will burn off all your body hair!

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Connections

References Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice (1969)

User Reviews

Who will say mercy first, Stuart or Carter.

As always when Deidre makes an appearance on the set, we all know we are in for a rough ride. This time Carter has broken up with his boxer boyfriend, Bennet, much to the chagrin of Stuart. Bennet has been getting him nice tickets to some of the biggest fights in town and Stuart wants him back. So actually behind Carter's back, Stuart becomes friends with Carter's ex. All Stuart wants is to keep receiving the special tickets which has ticked Carter off to no end.

But Carter gets revenge when he becomes friends with Stuart's ex-deranged girlfriend, Deidre. Now the two are guessing who is going to hate each other the most. Will Stuart cave in and relent on being Bennet's friend or will Carter get enough of Deidre.

Beth Littleford does an excellent job of making her character of Deidre so unlikeable that it becomes amusing to how far she will go. Any time she is in the script, it becomes much more enjoyable to watch. Perhaps not the best episode in the bunch but one that was surely interesting.