User Reviews

"JJ and the Plumber's Helper" finds JJ still out of work and unable to afford wining and dining his girl Vanessa 'the Contessa' (Sheryl Lee Ralph) at a fancy French restaurant, where he gets dumped in front of his mother and Willona. Meanwhile, Bookman's latest assistant is a young girl called T.C. (Bever-Leigh Banfield), given name Teresa, who finally stands up to her employer's insults and earns the respect of the Evans clan. With JJ down in the dumps, Thelma encourages T.C. to dress up in all her gorgeous glory to ask him out on a date, her treat! This was a rare example of an episode missing Ralph Carter as Michael, while the character of T.C. would make one return appearance (played by Ronalda Douglas) in "JJ and T.C." Lovely Bever-Leigh Banfield's best remembered role was as Alex Haley's maternal grandmother Cynthia Palmer in the upcoming ROOTS: THE NEXT GENERATIONS.

T. C. made only two appearances in the series. So, why couldn't they keep the original actress?! In any case, we see an interesting contrast between the woman JJ wants (Vanessa) and the woman who wants JJ (TC). Sheryl Lee Ralph wears two tons of make-up, which does nothing for her. Bever-Leigh looks completely natural. Thus, TC outshines Vanessa. TC really likes JJ, and she almost cries when he doesn't respond! Bever-Leigh was perfect as TC. She put her heart and soul into the part. Why was she later replaced by Ronalda Douglas? Ronalda couldn't hold a candle to the original actress, and she had already played a different character in a season five episode. Great episode (despite a missing Ralph Carter). The show should have expanded on "JJ and TC." (and Bever-Leigh should have stayed). There was some chemistry going on there.