"The Boogiem*n"


 

 

 
Cut Scenes:

In an early draft (unknown version), the names of Joshua's books differ (but are equally cheesy)

The handlink is referred to as "Ziggy Two."

The cat meows "yes" at Sam after surprising him in the car.

There's a little extra chat between Steve and Sam about shutting down the haunted house.

There is a short scene at the hospital where Sam arrives and is redirected by the nurse who informs him she drove away with the Sheriff.

During the final confrontation, lots of small changes are made, including, Sam referring to the handlink as "your hand computer" and Devil-Al calling the cat Beelzebub (and holding him through much of the scene), and revealing to Mary that Josh isn't Josh.

The script emphasises the shock that the real Al feels - describing the character in stage directions as "a man who survived two tours of Vietnam", and enabling him to describe the Devil as "every nightmare I've ever lived through and worse."

Also, a piece of exposition is missing part way through the episode, and seems to have been dubbed on after filming, as Sam and Mary pull up to the house and refer to the police questioning.

Similarly, the transmitted version has an extra Sam monologue about "no tricks, no treats, only death".


Syndication Edit:

[Near the beginning of the first act. Sam lies fallen at the foot of the stairs.]

Mary: [Runs down stairs] Josh! Josh, are you O.K.?

-- begin cut -->

Sam: [Groggy] Huh?

Mary: Josh, are you O.K.?

Sam: Yeah, yeah, I think so.

<-- end cut ---

Stevie: Sorry, Mr. Raye. I, I didn't mean to scare you like that.

 


Syndication Edit:

[Near the beginning of the second act. Al's standing on the stairs and Sam's talking to him.]

Al: Well, you were the logical suspect, but there was never enough evidence to justify your arrest.

-- begin cut -->

Sam: Look: if I leap into a murderer's life, then I, Sam Beckett, I'm not going to kill an innocent person, so then I've accomplished what I'm here for and I should leap, right?

Al: Right, unless she wasn't innocent.

<-- end cut ---

Sam: This is getting too weird, Al.

 


Syndication Edit:

The syndicated version runs Sam's line, "This is getting too weird, Al," over the second closeup insert of the snake in order to avoid showing a cut in the middle of the same take.

 


Syndication Edit:

[Dorothy Yager, the town gossip, is visiting. Mary has left the room.]

Sam: You don't get a girl like that without making some enemies, do you?

Dorothy: Oh, my gracious, no.

-- begin cut -->

Dorothy: We're all only human.

<-- end cut ---

Dorothy: No, I thought Ben Masters was fixing to pitch a fit, but I think the best man won.

 


Syndication Edit:

[Near the beginning of the fourth act. Sam has come home and told Stevie to go home. Only about 1 second is missing.]

[Sam enters his house and looks around.]

-- begin cut -->

[Wavering hand-held P.O.V. shot of the living room.]

<-- end cut ---

[Shot pans to the right.]

 

Syndication Edit:

The network closing credits consist of clips from the episode, which run for a few seconds and are then freeze-framed with credits. The syndicated closing credits eliminate all the moving footage and just use the freeze-frames with the credits. The syndicated closing music is shortened to fit. They save about 50 seconds that way. Clips:

The costumed Mary surprises Sam.

Sam discovers and battles with the snake in the kitchen.

Mary overhears Sam talking to Al in Sam's office.

The skull flies at Sam, and Al does a double take.

Sam's car speeds down the road and the cat startles him.

"Al's" eyes glow faintly red.