Original Air Date: 3/01/99 on NBC
Cast: Brooke Shields, Judd Nelson, Kathy Griffin, Barbara Barrie, David Strickland
Guest Stars: Rick Springfield
Director: Philip Charles MacKenzie
Rick's Character Name: Zack Hayward

Synopsis:  Susan meets Zack Hayward in the elevator on her way to work (he's on his way to the dentist).  He asks her out on a date.  He's a music producer and Todd wants Susan to play his music for Zack.  A comedy of errors prevents this from happening until Todd gets personally involved.

Fan Reviews:

 I think this might  be the only acting role since Mr. Jamie Roberts that made my heart just ooze with pure joy. I hated High Tide (I still can't get past it either) because I thought he had sold out, was acting in a semi-cheesy TV show and we were never going to experience the joy of unwrapping the cellophane of a brand new Rick Springfield CD again. But here he was in 1999, making TV appearances like crazy to promote Karma, so I could breathe a sigh of relief. Then I heard he would be a guest star on Suddenly Susan. I set the VCR, I waited by the TV and when he first appeared in that elevator with Brooke I nearly fainted. He was still the most handsome thing to walk the face of this earth. 

Zack was charming, funny and a little self-depreciating....just like I imagined the real Rick Springfield would be. How could Brooke NOT fall for him??? I thought he performed the humor extremely well, his sense of timing was on the mark. My favorite scene had to be the last one in the park. Did I mention he looked fantastic??? Whew. When he finally figured out what Todd was up to he played exasperated really well. I thought the final clip of Todd and Zack playing the guitar (when the credits ran) was so cute......and so sad when now we know what was to become of David Strickland.

Oddly enough, sometimes I see these 2 episodes Rick did as kind of a mirror of my Rick Springfield journey. In the first episode he is the perfect man; handsome, charming, funny.....everything my 15 year old mind thought the real Rick Springfield would be. The second episode took a really weird turn (it seemed out of character), almost making Zack out to be a wacko sex maniac....well....um....unless sexual three-somes are a part of the normal dating scene now. That episode showed Zack with a flaw (for lack of a better word) , which the adult part of me knows Rick Springfield must have (although gasp.....it is still hard for me to believe it sometimes!)