Frank De Palma directed eight episodes of this series, and Michael Kube-McDowell wrote four; this time, they’re telling the story of Ben Martin (Bill Macy, Maude’s husband), a man whose workaholic nature is soon putting his life in danger. Insurance salesman Harry Harris (Robert Riesel) offers him a device called the Lifebomb, which will keep him alive despite the fact that he could have a heart attack at any moment. Ben’s wife, Lianne (Samantha Harper, who was married to Macy at the time), thinks this will lead him to take a look at his life and fix things. Instead, it just makes him work harder.

By the end, Ben keeps having heart attacks and his wife leaves him, but the Lifebomb keeps him alive, as he’s stuck with needles and filled with drugs and covered by wires and tubes. What kind of life is that? Well, he’s going to figure it out because it looks like he can’t die.

I’ve seen some negative reviews of this episode, and it makes me think: This show is 20 minutes long. What do you lose when an episode isn’t that great? Not much time, and at least it has an interesting idea at the heart of it.