In Sam At Eleven we met Dave Richards played by Fred Dryer, who was a runner-up for the role of Sam. Here we meet Rebecca Prout played by Julia Duffy, who was a runner-up for Diane. Rebecca's botched date with Sam is a preview of what's to come for Sam and Diane.
Just as Dave was an extreme version of Sam, Rebecca is Diane with the volume turned up - snobbish, pretentious, and spouting poetry (in this case Russian). Rebecca has been dumped by her brainy fiancé, and decides to slum it with Sam. Diane is aghast, ostensibly because she fears Sam will love and leave Rebecca, but there's just a twinge of jealousy involved.
This episode is the first of many written by the team of Ken Levine and David Isaacs, who contributed to all but one season of the show. The writers solved a problem inherent in the first season: a staple of sitcoms is the mixup, and how do you do this with such a small set? Solution: send a character offstage to Melville's for change or to deliver drinks to the pool room.
Coach has a great little Abbott-and-Costello bit with Rebecca, and Sam's boredom with "Mother Russia" is funny. However, what makes this episode notable is the foreshadowing of the Sam and Diane relationship. It's only a matter of time...