Scarecrow And Mrs. King, Season 1

Reviewer: Alyice Edrich

Movie

Scarecrow And Mrs. King, Season One, 1983

Plot

A single mother of two, living in the heart of Washington DC, intercepts a package and finds herself in the middle of a spy ring.

Starring

Kate Jackson, Bruce Boxleitner, Paul Stout, Greg Morton, Beverly Garland, Martha Smith, Mel Stewart, and more.

The Review

While I enjoyed Kate Jackson as an “angel” in Charlie’s Angels, I have to say that her role as Mrs. King was the better role. She was really able to stretch her acting skills and gave the character nice homey/intellectual balance.

The show starts off with Mrs. King, a newly divorced mother of two, taking her new love-interest to the train station. At the train station, a stranger hands her a package and asks her to give it to a man on the train—a man in a red hat. When she sees the stranger get beat up by two thugs, she sets out to find the man in the red hat, only she can’t deliver the package because there’s a convention on the train with several men in red hats.

Later, the stranger shows up to claim the package, only Mrs. King’s mother “helpfully” mails the package. It’s then that Mrs. King discovers the stranger is actually a government agent by the name of Lee Stetson, a.k.a. Scarecrow. Feeling guilty about foiling a government mission, Mrs. King is determined to help the Scarecrow find the package and solve the case.

After proving her worth, Scarecrow’s boss, Billy, decides Mrs. King would make a perfect addition to the agency—bringing a more “civilian” or “human” touch to certain cases.

Using her knowledge as a Cub Scouts den mother, a member of the P.T.A., and various other “motherly” roles, Mrs. King partners with the Scarecrow to handle the local espionage rings.

Scarecrow, on the other hand, isn’t too thrilled with the idea. He is one of the world’s top agents and takes his job very seriously—and finds no logical reason to pair up with an untrained housewife from the suburbs.

Mrs. King, however, is conflicted. She finds the whole “spy” ring exciting, but has a difficult time dealing with all the lies and secret identities.

What makes the show endearing is the chemistry between Scarecrow and Mrs. King. Despite the fact that Scarecrow believes Mrs. King shouldn’t be working with the agency, he finds himself starting to rely on her—even care for her. And despite the fact that she knows Scarecrow is off limits, romantically, Mrs. King can’t help but find herself attracted to him.

Throughout the show Mrs. King teaches Scarecrow, an out-of-touch-with-reality agent, how to “act normal” and see things from a “non-agent” perspective and Scarecrow teaches Mrs. King how to think on her feet and become a better agent.

It’s such a cute, family-oriented show. There’s action, adventure, comedic antics, and yes, even a little romance. The violence is very minimal. And Mrs. King shows suburban housewives everywhere that their training as mothers can be used for more than just “mothering”.

Though some may find it “cheesy” by today’s standards, I still find the show as entertaining today as the day it first aired on national television.

Your Task

Host a Scarecrow And Mrs. King marathon with your children. Order pizza, make a big batch of popcorn, and mix up a bowl of punch. In between shows, make themed crafts based on various episodes. For instance, in one episode, Mrs. King is shown wearing a Cub Scouts’ uniform so you could help the kids earn merit badges.

Or you could make a game of the series by asking the kids to spot bloopers. For instance, in one episode, Mrs. King walks to the kitchen table where her two boys and mother are sitting down to breakfast. As she walks closer to the table, one of the boys is missing from the table, but as she sits down to the table, the boy mysteriously reappears.

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