Of course Ava’s dad is Henry Winkler playing a Jewish hippie who thinks he is black. “I think it’s jive, but I don’t wanna be a hater, oy,” he kvetches. It would be really hard for his visit to town not to be fun.
But Daddy Dearest manages to disappoint anyway. He arrives with his ladyfriend Linda and her twin teenagers in tow. For three people who never speak, they’re really killing the vibe. Ava pulls out all the stops to impress her Dad, including giving up her shady parking space to the odious Sharon Osbourne so that Linda and co. can get a picture with her. But her coveted Daddy Daughter Time remains out of reach.
On the Ava show, when Lawyer Derek backs out of a segment last minute, Lawyer Chris steps in. And despite his enthusiasm for bronzer, he’s a mess on camera - arms flailing, eyes on the wrong camera, mouth inexplicably repeating exhortations of “You do the math!” Reagan wrangles him under control to the point where he’s a good enough performer for Ava to hire full-time. Which means Reagan’s stuck with her husband in the office and at home, all day and all night.
So Reagan and Ava both have daddy issues (well, Chris is Amy’s daddy! It…kinda works!), so they decide to pull a Strangers on a Train. Ava gives Lawyer Derek imaginary multiple sclerosis so that Chris will give him back the on-camera job, and Reagan tells Ava’s dad to get the hell out of Dodge. While Winkler apologizes for avoiding one-on-one time with Ava, we never get much of a reason why - and their vague history makes the relationship ring a bit hollow.
Overall, even with such colorful guest stars with funny ways of talking, “Daddy Daughter Time” was a bit of a bland episode. Why bother bringing in outside accents when you’ve got a perfectly good Missy, whose thirty-second office takeover was the bright spot this week? “Hey, Steve? You’re so fucking fired!”
