Directed by Robert Berlinger
Written by Kevin Falls, Matt Tarses, & Bill Wrubel
Casey does an interview with Shane McArnold, a baseball star who's just signed with the Yankees, and gets into a confrontation with Dana when Shane says some unflattering things about the city, and Casey promises to edit out that portion of the interview. Dan continues as a reluctant patient of Abby's, and gets stuck in a rut at work when he can't pronounce the name Yevgeny Kafelnikov during a promo taping. Natalie obsesses over the Vatican's pronouncement there's no such thing as hell.
This episode contains examples of:
- An Aesop: Two of them at the end of the episode. First, in response to Natalie's continued obsession about there being no such thing as hell:Jeremy: Natalie, fear of punishment has never been what's kept you from committing a crime. The reason you haven't robbed a bank is that you know it's wrong. The reason you're not gonna steal that spoon is because you know it's wrong. So hell isn't a Hieronymus Bosch painting, what do you care? You weren't going there anyway.
- And then right after that, when Shane confronts Casey when the interview airs unedited:
Casey: Shane, you're gonna wear Yankee pinstripes. You're gonna roam the same piece of ground as Gehrig and DiMaggio and Mantle. Your salary's gonna be paid by people who work hard and like baseball. If you can't get excited about that, I think the very least you can do is to fake it. - Break the Haughty: Shane.
- Continuity Nod: During the therapy session (even though it's happening at Anthony's) that opens the episode, Abby brings up Dan's younger brother Sam.
- Department of Redundancy Department:Casey: He implies he doesn't like New York.Isaac: How?Casey: By saying he doesn't like New York.
- Epiphany Therapy: Averted; Abby makes it clear, even after Dan barges in on her during a session, that what he needs won't be helped by this. Also parodied here:Dan: Enough of this already. Just fix me, will you?Abby: Fix you?Dan: Yeah.
- Foreshadowing: Dan will continue to worry about whether he needs to be funny all the time.
- It's Personal: Shane gave Casey his big break, which is why he wants to edit Shane's controversial remarks about New York out of the interview.
- Right Behind Me: As Casey tries to convince Isaac to edit Shane's remarks:Casey: How do you feel about my editing out that section?Isaac: Well, I guess, since it's news and it's good television, I wouldn't feel very good about it. (Dana enters the office without Casey's knowledge) How do you think Dana would feel about it.Casey: ...Well, who knows with Dana? One day she's up, another day she's down. That girl's nuttier than a squirrel's cheeks in October. The point is...she's standing right behind me, right?
