THREE LITTLE WORDS Production #177-957 Tape: October 15, 2004 Air: October 22, 2004 Starring Amanda Bynes (Holly Tyler) Jennie Garth (Valerie Tyler) Wesley Jonathan (Gary Thorpe) Leslie Grossman (Lauren) Nick Zano (Vince) Allison Munn (Tina Haven) Special Guest Star JoAnna Garcia (Fiona) Guest Starring David de Lautour (Ben Sheffield) and Ed Kerr (Rick) Written by David Windsor and Casey Johnson Directed by Leslie Kolins Small EPISODE SYNOPSIS/REVIEW Last week Holly told Tina it wasn't a good idea to be messing around with a married man. Which is precisely what she's been doing since she got back from Paris. The shock of discovering Ben has a wife provided the impact for tonight's new "What I Like About You" episode (and the fiftieth one, at that!), "Three Little Words". Holly thinks she's ready for those three little words for Ben. She's anxious to find the right place and time, and she and Ben agree on Vince's apartment. Before that, Ben hands off a tape with his new song on it. Holly and Val both agree that it's the absolute worst thing ever recorded. Holly can't bring herself to tell Ben his song is rotten. Val tells Holly to be honest with Ben. But Lauren convinces her otherwise, and tells her it's a good song. He then sends it off to a producer. Holly then tells Ben the truth, and Ben tells Holly she needs to be honest. Back at the loft, Vince introduces Holly to a girl named Fiona (guest star JoAnna Garcia), whom Vince introduces as Ben's wife. She said they got married in Bristol after a night full of heavy drinking and she hasn't seen him in two years. And Vince is just waiting for the rebound. When Ben returns and sees Fiona, Ben sets the record straight. There was a divorce after being married 48 hours, and Fiona never filed divorce papers (which she wants to do). Holly's upset about the previous marriage and it appears Holly won't forgive Ben. Ben then takes to the balcony with his guitar and it looks like the magic is going to happen. And happen it does, as Ben apologizes for not telling Holly about Fiona, Holly apologizes for not being truthful about his song. And Holly tells Ben it's easy to forgive him because..."I love you." In the second story tonight, Val learns the hard way that you don't just marry a man, you marry his stuff too. Rick is going to be living in the loft, and he has begun the process of schlepping all his stuff there. Good stuff like an espresso maker, and bad stuff like a framed chimp-on-toilet poster and a wooden "beer butler" named Fred. And it's Val's turn to be honest, rejecting the beer butler. "I like to have nice stuff in my place", says Val in error. And this ticks Rick off no end. Again, Lauren tells Val she should have lied. Val, now in a rage, threatens to throw Fred off the side of the building. Val then vows to embrace Rick's stuff...as soon as Fred falls off the ledge! Val does a rough patch job on Fred, and she tries to hide Fred from Rick. Rick returns, at first all sweetness and light, saying he'd like Rick back to give to his ailing father. Then he turns on Val and produces Fred's ear. Rick then sees the carnage of what used to be Fred. "Fred! FRED!!!" screams Rick. Val apologizes for "killing" Fred. And Rick is upset for making Val mad. Rick apologizes and they make up too. The team of Casey Johnson and David Windsor, who put Jaleel White and company through their paces when they wrote for "Family Matters", make their initial contribution to the "What I Like About You" oeuvre by resuscitating the theme of last season's opener, "I Love You...Soon". Once again we start with Holly in a smoochy-huggy, sexless relationship without benefit of having told her significant other "I love you". Honesty in the relationship, as depicted last season in "Partially Obstructed View", also gets major play in both stories. It seems like the first six or seven episodes of last season and their themes have been neatly condensed into a taut little package. Recycling themes is fine for the series because it gives us an opportunity to see how much Holly has learned from past relationships. And it appears that Holly now is not afraid to say those words if she feels really comfortable in the relationship, and it makes for a more satisfying conclusion for this week before next week's Halloween party. And there, Holly will make another decision that will change her world somewhat. SHOW NOTES This episode at one point carried a working title of "Truth or Consequences". It was taped two weeks after "Ghost of a Chance" but aired the week before with only one week of lead time, due to the fact that "Ghost" carried a Halloween motif, and that episode would lead in to a Scooby-Doo special. Guest star JoAnna Garcia's first professional role was at age 13, when she made a guest appearance on "Clarissa Explains It All" as a character named...Fiona! NEXT LINE PLEASE HOLLY: Hey! When did we get that fancy espresso maker? VAL: It's Rick's. He's been dropping some of his stuff over all morning. HOLLY: Ooooh! And you're letting his black espresso maker mix with your white toaster? LAUREN: Hey! Your sister is growing. And besides, if black and white didn't mix, we would not have Halle Berry! ROLE CALL: The Other Faces JOANNA GARCIA (Fiona) A onetime cast member of Nickelodeon's "Are You Afraid of the Dark?", and star of the movies "American Pie 2" and "Not Another Teen Movie". Since the fall of 2001 JoAnna Garcia has been a member of the cast of one of the WB's most successful sitcoms ever, "Reba". JoAnna plays Cheyenne Hart-Montgomery, the oldest child of Reba Hart (played of course by Reba McEntire). From "What I Like About You" Fan Site at ABNOW! (http://www.amandabynesnow.com/wb/)