(S03E11) It seems only fitting that the week that I fill in for Jonathan, the name of the episode is "What About Bob?" The only thing stranger would be if next week's episode was titled "The Return of Jonathan." (Just checked, it's not.)

While Drama goes to shoot his first scenes for the new Ed Burns flick, Ari, Bob, and Eric go to see a studio head about the Ramones movie, and Vince and Turtle spend the day trying to track down a pair of expensive, limited edition sneakers from a famous Japanese artist.

The meeting with the studio head does not go well, especially after Bob takes over the meeting, babbles, and then pulls a quarter out of the exec's ear. The exec passes, and Ari is pissed. Bob agrees with Ari and Eric that the next meeting, with Disney, Bob won't say a word, unless it's going badly.

But Ari lied. The meeting is with Universal, not Disney. While Ari and Eric (who doesn't know about the lie until it's too late) go to Universal in one car, Bob goes to Disney in another. He's embarrassed at the gate when there is no meeting scheduled and no such exec. Meanwhile, Universal loves the Ramones idea. Ari and Eric have clinched the deal, but they can't get hold of Bob on the cell phone...

Meanwhile, Burns keeps adding more dialogue and movement to Drama's big scene, and Drama is so nervous he decides to take Turtle's advice and "rub one out" in the trailer before the scene. One problem: he's still wearing his mic and the entire crew hears him going at it with himself. Drama does the scene perfectly, then Burns wants to get an "embarrassed" reaction shot. Drama doesn't know why he'd be embarrassed in the scene, until Burns whispers that they heard everything in the trailer. Drama looks embarrassed; Burns has his shot.

Ari and Eric finally get hold of Bob on a three way cell call. They tell Bob they sold the script to Universal, but Bob has a surprise for them: because he was shoved aside during negotiations, he went over to Warner Brothers and sold the script to a friend, who hates Vince. Ari and the gang are out of the picture. And that's bad news for Vince, who just spent $20,000 to get Turtle a customized pair of those damn gold sneakers from the artist himself.

Good episode. It sets up the last ep of the season very well. Vince and Eric aren't too happy with the way that Ari handled the Ramones deal and Bob. Will they replace him?

Quotes:

"Depends...you shooting the pilot or serving finger food?" - Turtle, after Drama asked if he was dressed well enough.

"Way to be a man of the people, Aquaman!" - fan, impressed that Vince didn't cut in line at the store to get the rare sneakers.

"Very well?!? You lost him at 'Sanka'." - Ari, after Bob (who asked the studio head for Sanka) said he thought the meeting went "very well."

"What, did he mug Liberace on the way over here?" - Ari, about old-fashioned white limo that Bob arrived in.

"Cybill Shepherd...tons of talent, no underpants." - Bob, about Shepherd's screen test at Disney.

"I just paid $20,000 for sneakers and I don't have a job." - Vince