Pretty spot on. 
That old tv-series! Niles…
Haha!! I watched that episode before I knew about shamisen. When I got started with shamisen three years later, that episode immediately came into mind and the ‘spatula’ reference made sense. 
Thanks for sharing, Kyle! I love that series.
Knowing the price of shamisen, I can understand why the props department opted for a sanxian (at the end).
I saw that just the other day, lol!
The instrument at the end is a Qinqin. Like a mix between a Sanxian and a ruan. They come in two varieties. One looks like a banjo, and the other is the wooden kind seen in this episode that looks like some kind of pastry.