"Dinky Hocker" is a 1978 episode of the American television anthology series ''

ABC Afterschool Special ''ABC Afterschool Special'' is an American anthology television series that aired on ABC from October 4, 1972, to January 23, 1997, usually in the late afternoon on weekdays. Most episodes were dramatically presented situations, often controve ...

'', which aired on December 12, 1978. It was based on the 1972 novel ''Dinky Hocker Shoots Smack'' by M. E. Kerr.

Premise

The story revolves around its main protagonist, a

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

teen who turns to food as her source of comfort because of the neglect she gets from all circles. That includes her upper-middle-class mother, who is more focused on her charity work at a drug rehabilitation center than on her daughter. Dinky's mother believes that the only way to make Dinky feel better is by feeding her more food, and Dinky feels neglected as a result. Dinky's desperation to be noticed receives a surprise boost from another teen, P. John, who helps her realize that she needs to be herself. But when her family fails to notice that she wants to change, Dinky takes matters into her own hands. This ultimately proves effective at a charity event that her mother is involved in. The message gets across to her family, and they finally see that Dinky wants to be accepted as the one thing they failed to notice... a daughter who wants to be loved and not fed with food.

Comparisons to the novel

There were radical changes made to the adaptation of the story. The novel focused more on the observations from a male character, Tucker Woolf, a bookworm who befriends and details the going-ons of the title character and helps her self-esteem while dealing with his own family problems. Tucker's family (his father and journalist mother and an uncle with a drinking problem and an issue with responsibility and commitment) was notably absent from the program. Also the novel was more comedic and hinted at some political views, whereas the TV adaptation toned down some of the elements to make it a little more serious, along with the location setting from

Brooklyn Heights, New York Brooklyn Heights is a residential neighborhood within the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The neighborhood is bounded by Old Fulton Street near the Brooklyn Bridge on the north, Cadman Plaza West on the east, Atlantic Avenue on the south, ...

to Los Angeles."Dinky Hocker Shoots Smack"
from Novel Guide

Cast

Wendie Jo Sperber Wendie Jo Sperber (September 15, 1958 – November 29, 2005) was an American actress, known for her performances in the films ''I Wanna Hold Your Hand'' (1978), ''Bachelor Party'' (1984), and ''Back to the Future'' (1985), as well as the telev ...

as Susan "Dinky" Hocker *

June Lockhart June Lockhart (born June 25, 1925) is an American retired actress, beginning a film career in the 1930s and 1940s in such films as A Christmas Carol (1938 film), ''A Christmas Carol'' and ''Meet Me in St. Louis''. She appeared primarily in 1950 ...

as Helen Hocker *

Alan Oppenheimer Alan Oppenheimer (born April 23, 1930) is an American actor. He has performed numerous roles on live action television since the 1960s and has had an active career doing voice work since the 1970s. Early life Oppenheimer was born in New York ...

as John Hocker *

Jon Walmsley Jon Walmsley is a musician and actor. Acting career Walmsley is known for his accomplishments as an actor, most notably a nine-season run as Jason Walton on ''The Waltons''. He also returned for all of the ''Waltons'' reunion projects during ...

as Tucker Woolf

References

External links

* 1978 American television episodes ABC Afterschool Special episodes Television episodes based on works {{tv-episode-stub