"Dee plane! Dee plane!" - Catchphrase of Tattoo (Herve Villechaize) the
mischievous dwarf manservant of Mr. Roarke (Ricardo Montalban) on the
romantic drama FANTASY ISLAND/ABC/1978-84. When airplanes bearing guests
to Fantasy Island appeared on the horizon, Tattoo climbed the bell tower
of the Fantasy Island cottage and yelled "Dee plane! Dee plane" to alert
the island residents of the newcomers. In 1992 Herve Villechaize appeared
in a Dunkin' Donut commercial spot when he requested "Dee plain! Dee
plain!" donuts.
"Devil made me do it, The" - Catchphrase popularized by comedian Flip
Wilson when he starred on his own comedy variety program THE FLIP WILSON
SHOW/NBC/1970-74. His character Geraldine, a brassy black woman with a
boyfriend named Killer, would often say: "What you see, is what you get."
"Did I do th-a-a-a-a-t?!" - Frequent remark of accident-prone black
teenager Steve Urkel (Jaleel White) on the Chicago based sitcom FAMILY
MATTERS/ABC/CBS/1989-98. Everytime Steve visited his neighbor's (the
Winslow family) he caused a problem or broke something. His whiny,
apologetic comeback "Did I do that?" was as predictable as his nerdiness.
"Did I ever tell you about my uncle?" - When high school teach Gabe Kotter
(Gabriel Kaplan) returned home each night on the sitcom WELCOME BACK,
KOTTER/ABC/1975-79 he often asked his wife, Julie (Marcia Strassman) this
tiresome question when he wanted to recall tales of his relatives. For
example, "Did I ever tell you about my Uncle Bernie who never took a
bath?"
"Didja ever notice...?"- New reporter Andy Rooney on his final segment of
CBS's 60 MINUTES pondered similarly, asking the TV audience "Did you ever
wonder why" or "How come?" as he examined things in America's popular
culture. Comedian Jerry Seinfeld also questioned his audience with the
phrase "Didja ever notice...? and "What's the deal with...." in his comedy
routines and on his sitcom SEINFELD/NBC/1990-98. While onstage Jerry often
asked his audience "What's the deal with_____" and then began a mocking
tirade on a variety of trivial topics. For example: "What the deal with
Grape Nuts? You open the box. No Grapes. No Nuts. What's the deal? Who are
the ad wizards who came up with that?"; "What's the deal with the
Professor? He can make a radio out of a coconut but he can't fix a hole in
the boat!"; and "What's the deal with Oprah? She's fat. She's thin. She's
fat. She's thin. I mean pick a body and let's go with it!"
"D'OH!" - The dumbfounded expression of Homer Simpson, a pear-shaped,
donut loving, Duff Beer swilling Everyman on the prime time animated
cartoon THE SIMPSONS/FOX/1989+.
"Do bears bear? Do bees bee?" - Silly catchphrase response of private
detective David Addison (Bruce Willis) to his supervisor Maddie Hayes (Cybill
Shepherd) at Blue Moon Investigations on the detective dramedy
MOONLIGHTING/ABC/1985-89. Other similar Addison-isms included "Do eggs get
laid?" Do ducks duck? Do flies fly? Does Spock beam up?
"Don't be ridiculous!" - Catchphrase of Balki Bartokomous (Bronson
Pinchot), an immigrant from the Mediterranean Isle of Mepos who moved to
Chicago to live with his cousin Larry (Mark Linn-Baker) on the sitcom
PERFECT STRANGERS/ABC/1986-92.
"Don't have a cow, man!" - The bratty retort of Bart Simpson, a
10-year-old juvenile delinquent who starred on the animated cartoon sitcom
THE SIMPSONS/FOX/1989+. Bart often got in trouble at Springfield
Elementary School and could be seen writing on the blackboard during
detention sessions. Some examples: "I shall not draw naked ladies in
class," "I will not belch the national anthem," "I shall not torment the
emotionally frail," and "My homework was not stolen by a one-armed man."
He also liked to say "Eat my shorts!," "My name is Bart Simpson; who the
hell are you?," "Out of my way, man," "No way, man," "Aye, Caramba!"
(Bart's first spoken word as a baby) and "Cowabunga." Bart's hobbies were
skateboarding, chewing bubble gum, caring for his pets, selling his soul
to a neighborhood kid (a real big mistake!) and single-handedly bringing
homicidal TV stars to justice.
"Dy-No-Mite!" - Popular expression of James "J.J." Evans Jr. (Jimmy
Walker), a skinny black ghetto teenager living in a high-rise on the South
side of Chicago on the sitcom GOOD TIMES/CBS/1974-79. He used the phrase
to describe himself as well as situations. The phrase was first heard on
the second episode when J.J. had a run in with the police and said "They
knew they were in trouble once they realized they were dealing with Kid
...DY-NO-MITE!"
