The Big Bang Theory: The Hamburger Postulate

The Big Bang Theory: The Hamburger Postulate
CBS
October 22, 2007
Sitcom
DVD
B

Jennifer Glickman wrote this story and would do five more, while the teleplay is by Goetsch & Molaro.  Leslie Winkle seduces Leonard and, although it's just a one-night stand for her, we can see that Galecki & Gilbert still had chemistry.  Penny is happy for him getting together with Leslie, and sympathetic when she hears it didn't work out.  Leonard overanalyzes all this.  And poor Sheldon has to deal with all these interpersonal relationships.  Note that although Leslie is a very different character from Darlene Conner, we see a bit of snark in her put-downs of Sheldon.

Andrew D. Weyman directed 45 episodes of Roseanne and five of Ellen, but this is only one for TBBT.

These Friends of Mine: The Boyfriend Stealer

These Friends of Mine: The Boyfriend Stealer
ABC
August 30, 1994
Sitcom
DVD
B

In Bell & Rosenthal's funny story, Holly's boyfriend of three weeks, Steve (Tommy Hinkley, who was Kyle Fletcher on Who's the Boss? but who to me will always be Frankie and Annette's potential son-in-law in Back to the Beach), is a warm, affectionate guy, but Ellen thinks he's hitting on her.  Adam encourages her to get proof and of course there are misunderstandings of all sorts.

Meanwhile, Ellen's boss, Susan (Cristine Rose again) hires Joe, this episode having been filmed before the episodes where his character already appeared.  He and Ellen argue a lot but he does let her do open-mic poetry in the tag.  Fight Fan #2, Don Yesso, would return as a Robber.

These Friends of Mine in its short first season ranges from C+ to B, with half of those B-s, and it does average to a B-.  It shows some potential, although there were obviously some things to be worked out, particularly in terms of the cast, but also in terms of the writing.  I recall really enjoying the Season Two opener at the time, and we'll find out if that's still the case in less than a "month" (1994 time).

These Friends of Mine: The Soft Touch

These Friends of Mine: The Soft Touch
ABC
August 23, 1994
Sitcom
DVD
B-

I'm not crazy about the main plot in this Richard Day story about "soft touch" Ellen's guilt causing her to hire a car salesman she indirectly got fired, but it is nice to see more of BuyTheBook.  Also there are some good visual gags with the bulk food her parents bring over.  (The laughter in the tag scene between Ellen and Holly, over Ellen opening a huge can of tuna, looks genuine.)

These Friends of Mine: The Go-Between

These Friends of Mine: The Go-Between
ABC
May 4, 1994
Sitcom
DVD
B-

In this Mark Wilding story, Ellen convinces Adam to take her boss, Susan (Cristine Rose again), to Susan's ex-husband's wedding.  (And, yes, Susan had a baby fairly recently, but obviously TFoM chronology is screwy.)  Ellen just wants to cheer Susan up, but things become awkward when Adam and Susan have sex, three times in one night.  Don't ask me how Ellen didn't overhear them; maybe she just got home really late.  Ellen's failure to launch the concept of "TGITWE" (Thank God It's The Week End) is what I remember most about this episode, although I will note it was a little surprising to hear a trans (female-to-male) joke about an unseen character.

These Friends of Mine: The Hand That Robs the Cradle

These Friends of Mine: The Hand That Robs the Cradle
ABC
April 27, 1994
Sitcom
DVD
B

Mark Driscoll's first of ten scripts for the series makes an interesting contrast with the Bob Newhart Show episode called "The Modernization of Emily" (http://reviewingeverytvshowiown.blogspot.com/2016/03/the-bob-newhart-show-modernization-of.html), from two decades earlier.  Like Emily, Ellen is in her early 30s (32 in her case, vague in Emily's) and starting to feel no longer young.  With Emily, it's meeting a grown-up former student, while here it's Ellen dating a man who turns out to be 24.  Both women choose "hip" clothing to rejuvenate, but on BNS we just see Emily come in in the outfit, while here we get to go with Ellen on her shopping excursion.  In both cases, I don't think the outfits are that bad, but I can see why the friends react negatively.  The writing on BNS was sharper of course, but there are some good moments here, and it's cool to see Ellen do one of the things she'd become best known for on her talk show: be a dancin' fool.  Also, the slang here, like "phat" and "stoopid," is now as delightfully dated as Emily's mid-'70s attempts.

Eve Brent, who was Ms. Clover on Who's the Boss?, at 64 plays the Lovely Old Woman.  Daniel Edward Mora, who previously was a generic Deliveryman, here is the Water Delivery Man.

These Friends of Mine: A Kiss Is Still a Kiss

These Friends of Mine: A Kiss Is Still a Kiss
ABC
April 6, 1994
Sitcom
DVD
B-

Suzanne Martin's first of five Ellen stories has Ellen, Adam, and Holly answering personal ads, with mixed results.  This is as good a place as any to note how accelerated relationships feel on this show, with people (in their 30s) referring to "boyfriends and girlfriends" after a matter of weeks or even days.  I don't know if that's a '90s thing or a television thing.  Also, we learn that platonic roommates Ellen and Adam had one date and she claims to have forgotten they kissed.

Tracy Tweed, who plays Tara, was Girl #2 on Who's the Boss? a couple years earlier.  Daniel Edward Mora would again play a Deliveryman this season.  This is the first episode shown, but not taped, with David Higgins as snarky "brewmaster" Joe Farrell, and, yes, by this point in filming, Maggie Wheeler had left the series.  This is the first to air of the five TFoM episodes directed by Andrew S. Weyman, who had done most of the Season Four and Season Five episodes of Roseanne.

Roseanne: Promises, Promises

Roseanne: Promises, Promises
ABC
April 6, 1993
Sitcom
DVD
A-

Mike Gandolfi wrote this hilarious yet poignant episode.  It starts with another poker game in the kitchen, this time with two new players: David, and Chuck's friend Roger (Tim Curry in his first of two cameos).  Nancy comes in and Roger flirts outrageously with her, which she enjoys.  Chuck drops hints when Nancy's out of the room that she's a lesbian, but Dan doesn't want to discuss it in front of "the kid," till David announces it himself.  Nonetheless, Nancy does go out with Roger, whom Roseanne had hoped to fix up with her sister.  Jackie is understandably nervous about dating again, although she does show up in that red zippered dress.  In another of my all-time favorite lines, she says, "Now I'm losing men to lesbians!'  Nancy explains her bisexuality as her being "a people person."

Meanwhile, Prom Night is coming up and Roseanne makes Darlene prom-ise to go.  But Darlene has an ulterior motive, booking a motel room so she and David can lose their virginities together.  He's so nervous that he's impotent.  She's surprisingly sympathetic (and not just for her), but it doesn't help.  In the tag, they're back in the motel room, now darkened, and we hear them declare them love.  She asks if they're going to have sex now and, after a pause, he says, "I think I just did."

Doug Fieger makes his third and last appearance as Nick.  Danielle Harris is listed on IMDB, but I didn't notice Molly, although Mara Hobel has a couple scenes as Charlotte.

Roseanne: Playing with Matches

Roseanne: Playing with Matches
ABC
March 23, 1993
Sitcom
DVD
B

Robert Borden wrote this story where Roseanne matchmakes her mother with Jake (73-year-old Red Buttons in his first of two cameos), and patches things up between Darlene and David after Molly (Danielle Harris again) kisses him.  Jake/Bev gets less attention, but we see that he has an outrageous sense of humor that shocks her, and a joke is stolen from Who's the Boss? (and probably other places) where the dad of the teenage daughter tells the "kids" to knock off the makeout in the living room, only to discover that it's the grandmother and her beau.

As for David and Darlene, a few things are going on here, because not only does Darlene have to decide whether to trust David when he says he was innocent, but she also has to learn to trust her own feelings.  There's a lovely scene between Roseanne and Darlene, sweet, tender, and of course snarky, followed by David being surprised that Darlene can cry.  They reaffirm their love and sink back onto the bed, which leads us closer to the big change in the next episode....

Love old and young

Roseanne: It Was Twenty Years Ago Today

Roseanne: It Was Twenty Years Ago Today
ABC
March 9, 1993
Sitcom
DVD
B

Betsy Borns wrote this episode that establishes that Dan and Roseanne married in March of '73.  To celebrate, Roseanne has a boudoir photo taken, while Dan takes a job at a men's big & tall store to pay for having Roseanne's wedding ring redone.  Unfortunately, he has to work the night of their anniversary.  She overreacts but does apologize and bring a simple picnic to the mall to make amends.  In the tag, we see not only Roseanne's boudoir pic but Dan's saucy poses.

Fourteen years earlier, Robert Machray was Doug on the "Triangle Troubles" episode of Three's Company (I think Janet's date); he'd since put on weight and is Dan's Customer here.  In case you're wondering, at this point 37-year-old Bill Maher, who plays Bob the photographer, was six months away from Politically Incorrect.

Roseanne: It's a Boy

Roseanne: It's a Boy
ABC
March 2, 1993
Sitcom
DVD
B+

In this Rob Ulin story, David's parents are getting divorced.  His father has taken the two little sisters and his mother (Sally Kirkland again) wants to move to Michigan.  David refuses to go with her, so he wants Darlene to run away with him to New York.  She wants to wait till they hear back about art school.  David says he'll go by himself.  So Darlene admits to not only David but her parents that she loves him and wants him to move in.  They refuse and Darlene is very upset.  Roseanne goes over to talk to Barbara Healy and hears her not only call the Conner girls whores but her own son worthless garbage.  Roseanne decides that it's best for David to move in, although she has to win over Dan first.

Note that Jackie has been living there a month now but moves in with her mother when David arrives, because the house is "cramped" as it is.  I want to mention here that Galecki's performance is very good, partly because he doesn't overact.  We can see how wounded he is inside and why he is the way he is, having trouble standing up for himself.  And Gilbert as always is amazing, not just on her delivery of comic lines but the more serious moments, too.

Roseanne: Lose a Job, Winnebago

Roseanne: Lose a Job, Winnebago
ABC
February 23, 1993
Sitcom
DVD
B-

Norm MacDonald's second Roseanne script has the Conners and Jackie join the Tildens on a cross-country journey to LA, yes, in a Winnebago. (Wings Hauser makes his last appearance in the role of Ty, although Mara Hobel and Danielle Harris would return as his daughters.)  As you know, I'm not any crazier about the Tildens than their predecessors the Bowmans, but Darlene does have a good line comparing the sisters to her aunt and mother.  Ironically, Tom Arnold's last appearance on his then-wife's show is as Jackie Thomas.  (Roseanne would file for divorce in April of '94.)  There have been some other Jackie Thomas Show references, mostly in the tags, but this is the one I remember best, where the adults go to see JTS and Jackie sings "Seasons in the Sun."  Note the irony of the families going to Disneyland offscreen, when a much bigger deal would be made out of the Conners' Disney World trip.  Also, Dan here voices a wish for another child, but that won't happen just yet.

Blake Clark, who was 2nd MP on the M*A*S*H finale, Blake Cumbers on the "Nam" episode of It's Garry Shandling's Show, and Hoyt on Who's the Boss, here is Vic.  Ted Christino would again play a Tourist on the Disney World episodes.  Future Roseanne writer Stevie Ray Fromstein here plays Bill.

Roseanne: First Cousin, Twice Removed

Roseanne: First Cousin, Twice Removed
ABC
February 16, 1993
Sitcom
DVD
C+

Janice Jordan wrote this story, which is one of the weaker episodes of a very strong season.  According to IMDB, Joan Collins found the script unfunny, but I think she shares some of the blame, because the way she plays Ronnie, Roseanne's favorite cousin, feels off.  Yes, some of the problem is that there are references to Dynasty that are too cutesy, but it's also that Collins is portraying a character who's pushing 50, at a time when Joan was almost 60.  One moment, we're supposed to be charmed by Ronnie as much as the Conners, and Nancy, are and then we're meant to see her as a manipulative bitch.  For once, the tonal shifts don't work.  The main thing I liked here was the tag, where Darlene and David get caught by a cop as they fill out college applications, "My mom won't let us do it at home."  Note that it's implied that Roseanne was using condoms by the age of 14, even though elsewhere it seems that she lost her virginity at 16 or 18.

This time, Ahmad Stoner plays Jordan.  Sid Youngers, who plays a member of the Set Crew, would have another Roseanne role a couple years later; in real life, he would soon be a co-producer.

Roseanne: Wait till Your Father Gets Home

Roseanne: Wait till Your Father Gets Home
ABC
February 9, 1993
Sitcom
DVD
B

Roseanne's father dies offscreen in this Amy Sherman story.  I'd forgotten that there was such a gap between his one appearance and his death, so it's not as if we'll miss him, and the focus is more on how the family handles it.  The presence of Al's mistress of twenty-two years, Joan (Kay Arnold again), complicates matters.  For Roseanne, the thing that bothers her most is that she'll have no closure over her father's abuse of her and Jackie.  She ends up reading her father a letter and saying she's forgiving him so that she can move on.  As always, there's humor to lighten things, as when "basketcase" Jackie has to call a nearly deaf aunt.

Note that DJ says he's going to be twelve soon, even though he just turned ten a year ago, and then there's no more mention of his birthday.  It seems odd that Becky doesn't come home for her grandfather's funeral, but I guess he's been away too long, as Darlene points out.

Lenny Wolpe was Garry Havlock on Who's the Boss? and plays Frank Denvers, the funeral director.

Roseanne: Lanford Daze

Roseanne: Lanford Daze
ABC
January 26, 1993
Sitcom
DVD
B

In this Piper & Raether story, David calls Darlene a hypocrite for being a vegetarian supported by a loose-meat business.  So she does anti-slaughter graffiti in front of the Lunch Box.  To punish her, Roseanne makes Darlene work the business's booth at the upcoming fair.  I'm not sure that this main plot completely works, but I like the subplot where Dan has to deal with his own moral conflict, selling hot tubs to people who can't afford them.  And DJ's stageplay with his troop of Woodchucks is pricelessly literal.

Danielle Harris returns as Molly and claims to be a vegetarian, too.  Joe Keyes, who was the very First Customer, plays Customer #2 for this episode.  Kid #1 Ahmad Stoner would return in two other roles, while Joe Minjares would again play a Cop.  And, yes, Loretta Lynn appears as herself.

Roseanne: War and Peace

Roseanne: War and Peace
ABC
January 12, 1993
Sitcom
DVD
A-

This Heline & Heisler conclusion of the two-parter again manages the tonal shifts with skill, as when Gilbert rocks it with her amazing delivery on some of the funniest lines.  But even a scene like Jackie being both grateful to and angry at Dan blends humor and drama.  We find out in this episode that Fisher has beaten Jackie before and they both hid that.  Jackie, despite loving Fisher, finds the courage to leave him.  The scene of Dan explaining his time in jail to DJ is an interesting contrast to the Soap scene, from about fifteen years earlier, of Jessica Tate explaining to her fifteen-year-old son why "Daddy" was in jail for killing cousin Peter.  (Or was it Corinne in jail at that point?)

I would've gone with another B+ but Dan's rendition of "Jailhouse Rock" in the tag brings this closer to perfection.

John "Juke" Logan, who was Man Who Takes Chair, in the first season here is the Prisoner with Harmonica, while Prisoner Alex Cole would be a Male Customer later this year.  Roseanne's 14-year-old son Jake Pentland has his second role on the show, as the Paper Boy.  And Jeremy Roberts, Jay in the previous episode, here has a nameless part.

Roseanne: Crime and Punishment

Roseanne: Crime and Punishment
ABC
January 5, 1993
Sitcom
DVD
B+

When the "lighter" thread is about DJ getting in trouble for taking Darlene & David's "sick" comic to school, then it's fair to say that, at roughly the midpoint of the series, we're heading into territory that few or no family sitcoms had ever explored before.  Dan goes to talk to DJ's principal, Cecil Alexander (Begley), thinking DJ has taken one of Dan's issues of Playboy and is at first relieved it's just a comic.  (Note that we find out in this episode that the girls' bathroom also connects to DJ's room, which I hadn't been clear on before.)

Meanwhile, Fisher is stressed about his unemployment and he (offscreen) "beats the crap out of Jackie."  Since viewers by now are very fond of Jackie, we're as upset as Roseanne, especially when Jackie tries to defend Fisher.  When Dan hears, he goes over and (again offscreen) apparently beats the crap out of Fisher.  Two policemen show up quickly to arrest him, although small town that this is, one of them is friends with Dan.  In a sight gag closing this first of two parts, Principal Alexander's car pulls up next to the police car.

Again, Roseanne pulls off very difficult tonal shifts, so that the episode made me laugh and cry, without feeling forced.  Even in this bleak time, there are still jokes, including Darlene mocking Becky's butt in absentia.

Wings Hauser and Mara Hobel return as Ty Tilden and his daughter Charlotte, but there's no sign of Molly.  Doug Fieger makes another appearance as Dan's poker buddy Nick (essentially the guy in the "DJ spot," who can have his back to the audience most of the scene).  Jeremy Roberts, who's Jay, would return.  Secretary Colleen Camp would be back in two other roles.  I don't have Brice Beckham in anything else, but I should point out that he plays one of the two teen guys Charlotte has a crush on and he's best known as Wesley on Mr. Belvedere.

Roseanne: It's No Place Like Home for the Holidays

Roseanne: It's No Place Like Home for the Holidays
ABC
December 15, 1992
Sitcom
DVD
B

Eric Gilliland wrote this Christmas story with an ironic title.  A snowstorm hits and so people are separated for the holiday:

• Mark and Becky are unseen in Wisconsin;
• Dan and DJ are at home with Nancy and Marla, and Dan is uncomfortable about their mistletoe time (unseen, we're not up to the "lesbian kiss" days of '90s TV that Roseanne among others would be part of) and plans for a baby, with a great visual gag about a turkey baster;
• Roseanne, Jackie, Bev, and Nana Mary are at the Lunch Box;
• and Darlene is over at David's as he babysits his little sisters.

(This is the only episode where we see Lisa and Nicki and I recall them as being retconned out.)  D & D have another fight about her not being ready for sex, but she chooses staying overnight at his place "rather than death."  Then his mother, Barbara (played by Sally Kirkland, who was a nude model on Three's Company fifteen years earlier), comes home and slaps him for suspecting she's lying and cheating on his (unseen) father.  She also calls Darlene "Conner trash" and "a slut like her sister."  David apologizes and Darlene says she didn't mind "slut" but "like her sister" hurt.  And she gives him a sweet, long hug.  When she gets home, she gives Roseanne a kiss on the cheek, probably for being better than David's mother.

Roseanne: Of Ice and Men

Roseanne: Of Ice and Men
ABC
December 1, 1992
Sitcom
DVD
B-

DJ goes out for the peewee hockey team, and 37-year-old Jackie breaks up with 25-year-old Fisher because of the age difference.  This is at least the second episode where Roseanne hits Dan with a frying pan.  Note that there's snow on the ground, including an exterior shot of the Lunch Box.  This is the first of two Roseanne scripts from Robert Borden and Norm MacDonald, yes, that Norm MacDonald.

Roseanne: Good Girls, Bad Girls

Roseanne: Good Girls, Bad Girls
ABC
November 24, 1992
Sitcom
DVD
B

This episode written by Amy Sherman is one of the better ones with the Tildens (again, Wings Hauser, Mara Hobel, and Danielle Harris as Ty, 17-year-old Charlotte, and apparently 16-year-old Molly [the younger sister but she drives]).  Charlotte is a "good girl," shy and domestic.  Molly seems to be a good girl, too, but her surface sweetness hides the side of her that thinks nothing of smoking joints in a van with strange guys after a rock concert.  Darlene looks like a "bad girl," but she doesn't want to be in "a bad After School special."  Darlene's parents don't trust her, but Ty trusts Molly.  Note that Darlene says it was over a year ago that she went to Chicago with David, but wasn't that episode around February of '92?

Roseanne: Ladies' Choice

Caricatures by Marla, for the restaurant

Roseanne: Ladies' Choice
ABC
November 10, 1992
Sitcom
DVD
B

Nancy's choice turns out to be her new girlfriend Marla (Morgan Fairchild in the first of three appearances that Fall).  Roseanne and more particularly Jackie are shocked to hear that Nancy is a lesbian, and there are some ironic in retrospect lines about it, re Jackie and Bev.  (Not to mention that the then-closeted-even-to-herself Sara Gilbert has lines about knowing what a lesbian is.)  Meanwhile, Bev's choice is to move into an old folks' home.  We find out that currently Bev is 63, Roseanne 40, and Becky 18.

This is the first of six Roseanne stories by Betsy Borns, the first of five by David Raether.  And if Belita Moreno, the woman selling Bev a spot in the home, seems vaguely familiar, it's because she had then recently finished a semi-regular role on Perfect Strangers (which I don't own but did watch most of at the time).