Titus/Intervention

Intervention
Season 1, Episode 8
Airdate	May 15, 2000
Production Number	1ADK-04
Written by	Adam Belanoff
Directed by	David Lee
← 1x07 Mom's Not Nuts	1x09 → Episode Eleven
Titus — Season One

Intervention is the eighth episode of the first season of Titus. Titus and the others hold an intervention to get his father to start drinking again.

Starring: Christopher Titus (Christopher Titus), Cynthia Watros (Erin Fitzpatrick), Zack Ward (Dave Titus), David Shatraw (Tommy Shafter)

and: Stacy Keach (Ken Titus)

Guest Starring: Peter Jason (Ridge), William Forward (Joe)

Co-Starring: Michele Marsh (Melissa), Julie Wagner (Young Woman), James Carl Anderson (Friend #1), Phoenix Forsyth (10-Year-Old Titus), Sean Marquette (10-Year-Old Tommy)

Plot Overview

Opening Monologue

If you have a problem, no matter what it is, there's a number you can call. I stopped drinking when I was 17 on my own. Because it's not good for your health and... I fell into a bonfire.

I didn't need AA. Falling into a bonfire is a 1 step program. Of course, that didn't convince me to stop drinking, it was my drunk friends trying to stomp me out. We actually have no pictures of my father where he is not holding a beer: waterskiing, funerals, parent-teacher conferences, intensive care. And he was always vibrant, confident and full of life. That was before. Recently Dad hit bottom and it was freaky.

I swore I would never get involved in my dad's life but then he started blowing it. So had to get involved. You know. But, he's my dad. I can't send him to his room or ground him. Or go to his first grade play and scream "Look at the fairy!"

The Show

Titus and the others decide to hold an intervention in order to change Ken's drinking problems. After Ken comes home and reveals that he hadn't had a drink in a month, Titus says that they would like him to start again. After unsuccessfully convincing him that he's "lost his lust for life," they call in Ken's boss to help. Because Ken was both functional and personable while drunk, he was employee of the month.

As a last ditch effort, Titus calls his father a wussy which sends the others scrambling for cover. As expected, Ken chugs the beer to disprove his son. What Titus didn't expect was that now his father is drinking again, he's the mean-spirited horrible man that he grew up with. Ken gets even by telling Erin that he lost money on a car, telling Tommy that he "embezzled" money from the business and that Tommy may have accidentally committed tax fraud. To make things worse, Ken tips off Titus that Dave was the one who wrecked the car.

While crushing his sons, he turns on Tommy (who had a naked dream about Titus) and Erin (who told about his fear that he'll become his father). While they argue, Ken laughs maniacally at the door.

Trivia

Behind the Scenes

• Fun with Censorship: In the scene where Melissa lit herself on fire after dousing herself with gasoline, the censor wouldn't allow producers to show her actually striking the match fearing that kids would imitate her.

Allusions and References

• Bridge on the River Kwai: Bridge on the River Kwai is a 1957 war movie starring Alec Guinness and William Holden. When prisoners of war in a Japanese POW camp are forced to build a bridge for prisoner transport, the POWs score a moral victory by doing everything themselves. However, while they build the bridge, the allied forces plot to destroy it.

Ken: I thought it was Bridge on the River Kwai.