For part 3 of the “LOUIE on TV” posts, the focus will be on some vintage television shows from the mid-1980s to 1990.
Let’s give it to ’em…. right now!
Moonlighting (ABC)
Season 2 / episode 14 / 1986-02-18
“Every Daughter’s Father Is a Virgin”
There’s no performance of LOUIE LOUIE in this episode, but the song is discussed… in a lovely manner.
04:10 – David Addison Jr. (Bruce Willis) – “Please rise. That worked pretty good! Let’s turn to page 138, where a little hymn God wrote called… aaah… LOUIE LOUIE”
Let’s see if this YouTube clip works….
Designing Women (CBS)
Season 2 | Episode 15 / 1988-01-18
“Oh, Brother”
The IMDB page for this episode claims that the Richard Berry recording of LOUIE LOUIE was part of the soundtrack for this episode, but I couldn’t find it anywhere on the DVD reissue of this episode. That being said, this song is a topic of discussion in this episode.
13:40 – Julia Sugarbaker (Dixie Carter) – “Clayton, what are you doing here?”
Clayton Sugarbaker (Lewis Grizzard) – “I got fired.”
Julia- “Fired? You’ve only been on the job three and half hours?”
Clayton – “They got sick and tired of me playing LOUIE LOUIE on the organ…”
Julia- “You mean to tell me that Mr. Hayes has fired you without as even as much as giving you a warning?”
Clayton – “Yeah, they gave me a warning. They told me to stop playing and I did. Soon, I was writing out a sales slip for a saxophone, and I accidentally started singing LOUIE LOUIE – you know the first part, LOUIE LOUIE, oh baby .. we gotta go… ai ai yi yi…? They thought I was being smart and he fired me.”
Mary Jo Shively (Annie Potts) – “That doesn’t seem very fair…”
Charlene Frazier Stillfield (Jean Smart) – “That’s right, it’s a free country and you can sing LOUIE LOUIE anywhere you want.”
Northern Exposure (CBS)
Season 1 / episode 1 / 1990-07-12
(Pilot episode)
This one’s an old favorite. This may be the very first TV sitcom to incorporate and discuss Richard Berry’s recording of his most popular song.
14:38 As Ed Chigliak (Darren E. Burrows) drives Joel Fleischman (Rob Morrow) to his new home in Alaska, he is eager to play his cassette of the Richard Berry version of LOUIE LOUIE.
Wonder Years (ABC)
Episode 1 / episode 6 / 1988-04-19
“Dance With Me”
The Wonder Years was another TV show I really enjoyed, focusing on the memories of a kid named Keven Arnold (Fred Savage) that grew up in the 1960s.
The first acknowledgement of LOUIE was the use of the Kingsmen recording
in the 6th episode of the show.
14:40 – Wayne Arnold (Jason Hervey), brother of lead character Kevin dances to LOUIE LOUIE.
Wonder Years (ABC)
Episode 3 / episode 10 / 1990-01-02
“Rock ‘n Roll”
The second acknowledgement of LOUIE in this show was not a performance, but a brief mention as part of a short conversation when Kevin links up with some classmates for his very first rock band – the Electric Shoes.
11:00 – Larry Beaman (Joshua John Miller) – “How about LOUIE LOUIE?”
Mark Bernstein, drummer (Casey Ellison) – “How’s that go?”
* * * * * * * *
Some of you may be asking… “Where can I find all these clips?”
The answer? eBay, public libraries, record stores, collector archives, local thrift shop, YouTube, Amazon Prime, among others…
There is currently no one-size-fits-all, one-stop spot for all of these videos… at least not in February 2019.
Seek and ye shall find!