Could this one-night stand have led to a lasting relationship? Maybe, if the show hadn't been cancelled.

Nicole Sullivan appeared for a second time on the Leah Remini/Sharon Lawrence sitcom Fired Up in the episode "The Pajama Game." [The original air date is unknown; since Fired Up was pulled from NBC's lineup rather abruptly, it is entirely possible that this episode was never aired during the show's original run on NBC. It did, however, air during the show's run on the USA Network.] In this episode, Ms. Sullivan reprises her role as Debbie, best friend of Terry (Remini) and a newly-divorced mother of two children. As far as I know, this is the only other episode of the series in which Sullivan appeared; nevertheless, it's fairly obvious that the writers envisioned her character as a recurring role. As if to emphasize the importance of Sullivan's character, Sharon Lawrence steps aside completely, only appearing in the first and last scene of the episode. The episode then focuses on the relationship between Terry and Debbie. Debbie, as we find out in the first five minutes of the episode, has just gotten a divorce, and has been goaded into spending the weekend with best friend Terry, who assumes Debbie needs a female shoulder on which to cry, even though Debbie insists her relationship with her ex-husband ended long ago and whatever emotional trauma she suffered as a result of the breakup is gone. Back at the apartment which Terry now shares with brother Danny (Mark Feuerstein), Debbie and Danny (It sounds rather stupid, doesn't it?) immediately sense an attraction towards each other, but Terry warns Danny not to make any advances towards Debbie - she is very vulnerable, Terry explains. All is in vain, however, since later that night Debbie steals into Danny's bedroom, and the two end up sleeping together. As might be expected, the two try to keep their tryst a secret - but not for long. Debbie feels guilty about not telling Terry - after all, the whole basis of their relationship is being open and honest about whom they've had sex with. Debbie tells Terry about having slept with Danny, and then asserts herself, claiming that she doesn't need Terry telling her what's in her best interests. Terry is taken somewhat aback by this rebuke, but within a few minutes, the anger has passed and the two have reconciled. [Typical sitcom!]

So what are we to make of this episode? For starters, we should note that the quality is fairly representative of the series as a whole - which is to say this is not the most entertaining half-hour of television I've ever seen, nor is it the worst. It is quite watchable if you can get past having to watch a shirtless Mark Feuerstein, which at times was in danger of making me violently ill. What I had some trouble accepting was the new development of the character Debbie, which seemed somewhat inconsistent with the character presented in an earlier episode, "The Baby Sitter's Club." In this episode, Debbie seemed anything but someone who would allow anyone else, especially Terry, to try to protect her. On the contrary, it seemed that Debbie had the upper hand vis-a-vis Terry - in the last scene, she asserts that out of all her friends, she thought Terry would be "the last to accomplish anything." And of course the earlier episode mentioned nothing of her pending divorce, which is perhaps a more forgiveable discrepancy. And one can't help but sense that the supposed attraction between Sullivan's character and Danny (Feuerstein) seemed a little contrived. Nevertheless, Sullivan's character looks promising. Unlike the prior episode, in which Sullivan's role was relatively small, in this episode, Sullivan is the de facto co-star in an episode in which the real co-star, Sharon Lawrence, is almost entirely absent. This signals that the writers probably envisioned this as a pretty subtantial role. There's probably a parallel space time continuum somewhere in which Fired Up became a big hit, and as a result, by the year 2000, Nicole Sullivan achieves mega-stardom. But the world which we are stuck with is one in which Fired Up was cancelled, Remini joined the cast of King of Queens, and Nicole Sullivan returned to the cast of Mad TV.

And what about Sullivan's performance? It was worth watching, especially for die-hard Nicole Sullivan fans, but I still think most fans will probably rate her performance on The Drew Carey Show as her best guest role. She plays the role of seductress convincingly enough, affects what seems to be an accurate New York accent, and even gets a few good lines (the best one probably was her response when Danny asked her if her attraction to him was a "rebound thing" - she replies "no - the UPS guy was a rebound thing."). Still, the sophomoric jokes on this show cannot compare to the masterful writing of The Drew Carey Show, which packs more laughs into five minutes than most sitcoms contain in a half-hour show. And even Sullivan can only do so much to compensate for mediocre writing. But the character had potential, and we will never be able to see if this potential could have been fulfilled.