Roseanne: Trick Me Up, Trick Me Down

Roseanne: Trick Me Up, Trick Me Down
ABC
October 29, 1991
Sitcom
DVD
B-

This was better than I expected, considering it's not only a Halloween episode but it features the Bowmans (Meagen Fay and Danton Stone again).  Amy Sherman wrote the script, which has Roseanne expecting Kathy Bowman's revenge, until finally Dan has to pull a lame prank and have Roseanne think it was Kathy's scheme.  Meanwhile, we get to see a lot of cool costumes, Dan & Roseanne's "ventriloquism" act," and the return of Booker, in a moose costume!  Note that Nancy is referred to but not seen and Arnie asks Jackie to act like they never had sex.

Again, apologies to James Pickens, Jr. for having to drop him out of the overcrowded tags.

Roseanne: Let's Call It Quits

Roseanne: Let's Call It Quits
ABC
May 2, 1989
Sitcom
DVD
B

McFadzean & Anderson wrote this season-closer and game-changer where a sadistic new supervisor drives Roseanne to quit, with her coworker friends joining her.  (Anne Faulkner and Charlaine Woodard return as Sylvia and Vonda, and, yes, we would see them again.)  Most of the episode is set at the factory, but Dan is wonderfully supportive in the scene at home.  Note that it's never explained whether Booker quit or was fired, but he does hang out with the gang at the Lobo.

Roseanne in Season One is fresh and funny, unlike anything else on TV from that time.  There are missteps, especially with the factory and Booker, but when the show focuses on the family, particularly Roseanne and Dan's wonderfully real relationship, it's golden.  I would like for the kids to have had more to do, but they, especially little Michael as DJ, had to grow into their roles.  Metcalf also hasn't yet shown us what she's capable of.  Still, for a first season to range from C+ to B+ and average out to a low B is impressive, and I had had relatively low expectations compared to later seasons.  I'm eager to see how Season Two looks....

Roseanne: Workin' Overtime

Juanita on the far right

Roseanne: Workin' Overtime
ABC
March 14, 1989
Sitcom
DVD
B-

Roseanne's first husband, Bill Pentland, who had done a guest shot earlier in the season, wrote this story where Roseanne gets stressed out about working overtime, with the kids not pulling their weight at home.  Luckily, she's got Dan and a sympathetic waitress diner.  I like this episode but it does feel a little forced and obvious at some points.

Juanita (Evelina Fernández) and Sylvia (Anne Faulkner) return and, although the latter has little to do, we find out that Juanita is attracted to Booker.  (Jackie reacts as if she's not involved with Booker, so maybe it's still a secret at work.)

Roseanne: Bridge Over Troubled Sonny

Roseanne: Bridge Over Troubled Sonny
ABC
January 31, 1989
Sitcom
DVD
B

This Laurie Gelman story has Crystal still not over the death of her first husband, Sonny, who's been encased in a bridge pylon for twelve years.  (Lonnie, still for the moment played by Josh Williams, is eleven, but maybe Crystal was pregnant at the time.)  There are some twists on this plot that surprised me rewatching it now.  Meanwhile Darlene takes up smoking, and the Conners do not react the way the Bradys did with Greg.

Booker, Juanita (Evelina Fernández), and Sylvia (Anne Faulkner) appear in the first scene at Wellman.

Roseanne: Canoga Time

Roseanne: Canoga Time
ABC
January 17, 1989
Sitcom
DVD
B-

David McFadzean wrote this story about a rummage sale, Darlene's report card, and Jackie & Booker's date which he's very late for.  I still don't get where they're going with Jackie/Booker and I don't think the writers knew either.  Note that we see the girls' bedroom for the first time.  And thus ends the Reagan era of my TV shows, unless something turns up later on VHS.

Roseanne: Dan's Birthday Bash

Roseanne: Dan's Birthday Bash
ABC
January 3, 1989
Sitcom
DVD
B

In the subplot, Becky has her very first date, with Chip Lang (Jared Rushton again).  The main plot is a pun on the title, with Dan tempted to break his promise to Roseanne ten years ago that he wouldn't get in fights anymore.  We see a darker side of Dan here, underscored by Darlene witnessing him punch a sheet of drywall.  And we also get some insights into his relationship with Roseanne.  I would've gone with a B+, but the episode is slow to get going and I don't feel like Jackie, Booker, and Crystal are given much to do.

Andrea Walters makes her first of three appearances as Chip's mother Bonnie.  Nancy Fish returns as Claire the Lobo bartender.  And Bill Sadler makes his first of two appearances as Dan's friend Dwight.

Roseanne: Here's to Good Friends

Roseanne: Here's to Good Friends
ABC
December 20, 1988
Sitcom
DVD
B-

Danny Jacobson wrote this episode where Roseanne and Jackie take Crystal to the Lobo Lounge to cheer her up after a recent dumping.  We find out that she's been married thrice, I think the first a widowing and the second two divorces.  She mentions having to get a sitter for Lonnie, although I don't know why she doesn't drop him off and have Dan look after him along with the Conner kids.  It's another episode where things don't quite jell.  For instance, in the continuing Jackie & Booker thread, he lies and goes out with another woman, so she gets revenge, but it's still unclear to them and us how J & B feel about each other.  Note that Darlene is again procrastinating with her homework.

At Wellman's, Juanita (Evelina Fernández), Pete (Ron Perkins), and Sylvia (Anne Faulkner) return.  John "Juke" Logan, the Man Who Takes Chair, would later play Prisoner with Harmonica.  And Nancy Fish makes her first of four appearances as Claire the bartender.

Roseanne: The Memory Game

Roseanne: The Memory Game
ABC
December 13, 1988
Sitcom
DVD
B

Grace McKeaney's first of four Roseanne stories takes awhile to get going-- and again the Wellman's Plastics scene is the weakest of the lot-- but it works its way to a gut-punching moment and then resolution and comfort.  We learn in this episode that Dan and Roseanne married fifteen years ago, right after high school.  (I'd remembered Dan as a year or two older, but either I'm wrong or this was retconned.)  Their reunion is coming up so Dan hires a professional photographer for their family portrait.  Unfortunately, Jackie (who is starting to seem passive-aggressive, or maybe just really clueless) chooses this time to tell Roseanne that Dan dated Roseanne's nemesis Phyllis in high school.  When Roseanne confronts Dan, it turns out that he had drunken sex with Phyllis!  Roseanne (and the audience) end up forgiving Dan but it has changed things.  And, yes, this must've been an interesting pairing with the Who's the Boss? flashback show.

Steve Vinovich, who plays Bob the photographer, was Ben Baxter, the guy who switches food with Jack on Three's Company during their finals.  Juanita (Evelina Fernández), Pete (Ron Perkins), and Sylvia (Anne Faulkner) all return for the Wellman scene.

Roseanne: Lovers' Lane

Roseanne: Lovers' Lane
ABC
December 6, 1988
Sitcom
DVD
C+

Another uneven episode, this time with a pointless rape joke.  (I don't mean gratuitous, I mean pointless, but I'll get to that.)  The title is a pun, since the Conners and friends go bowling, and Becky's "new boyfriend" Chip Lang (Jared Rushton, who would return twice in the role) works at the alley.  It turns out that they're not actually dating yet, and she's shy about speaking to him.

The other "lovers" are Jackie and Booker, who make a "friendly bet," where if he beats her at bowling, she'll spend the night at his place, while if she wins he'll have to clean her bathroom.  It's unclear what Jackie's feelings about Booker actually are.  She seems attracted to him (and, yeah, it is a twentysomething George Clooney), but she hesitates.  Because he's younger?  Because he's her boss?  Because he's conceited?  Other?  Do we ever find out?

He wins and she asks if he wants her "against her will."  He says of course.  But then he says he doesn't want it to happen because of a bet.  So what is the point of the "against her will" line?  And is it something she wants or not?  On a soap opera, this kind of ambiguity might be OK, but this is a sitcom and I'd like some insight if not closure on this plot thread.

Evelina Fernández and Annie Faulkner return as Juanita and Sylvia but apparently they're not allowed to be in any scene outside Wellman's Plastics, so they don't go bowling.  Ron Perkins returns as Pete and gets insulted.  Josh C. Williams makes his first of two appearances as Crystal's son Lonnie Anderson (get it?), although he's not referred to by name here.  This is the first of 13 Roseanne episodes written by Danny Jacobson.  I assume he improved.

Roseanne: Radio Days

Roseanne: Radio Days
ABC
November 29, 1988
Sitcom
DVD
B-

This Laurie Gelman story is uneven but has some interesting elements.  Roseanne encourages Dan to enter a song-writing contest on the radio, which he does, using one of her own poems.  They come in fourth but we hear the song a couple times and so we know that both Dan and Roseanne have talent.  Meanwhile, Becky and Darlene bicker, D.J. remains adorable, Booker and Jackie engage in behavior that isn't clearly flirtation or mutual harassment, and we find out some of Crystal's tragicomic background.

Roseanne's coworkers Juanita (Evelina Fernández), Sylvia (Anne Faulkner), and Vonda (Charlayne Woodard) return and are given a little more personality.  Ron Perkins is credited on IMDB for two previous appearances as Pete Wilkins, but this is the first time I noticed him.

Roseanne: Life and Stuff

Roseanne: Life and Stuff
ABC
October 18, 1988
Sitcom
DVD
B

Even though this series originally ran on ABC right after Who's the Boss?, I definitely wasn't watching it the first season.  (And to be honest, what with changes in my life in the late '80s, I wasn't watching WtB that regularly.)  This is the only episode written by co-creator Matt Williams, but it obviously incorporates a lot of Roseanne's stand-up act and persona.  On the other hand, director Ellen Falcon did the majority (fifteen) of the first season episodes.

You know the cast now, but back in '88 no one did, so first of all, Roseanne and her family:

• Roseanne Barr as the Danzaly named Roseanne Conner
• John Goodman as her husband Dan
• Laurie Metcalf as her sister Jackie
• Lecy Goranson as older daughter Becky
• Sara Gilbert as younger daughter Darlene
• and Sal Barone as son D.J. (soon to be replaced because he didn't get along with Gilbert)

Roseanne's coworkers at the factory include Sylvia Foster (Anne Faulkner in her first of nine appearances), Juanita Herrera (Evelina Fernandez, also first of nine), and Vonda Green (Charlayne Woodard, first of five), but they're not given much to do here.  Natalie West as Crystal Anderson, however, would do 83 more episodes, and she is in the opening credits.  (Crystal wishes she could find a husband like Dan, which would later be ironic.)  And, yes, that's 27-year-old George Clooney (post-Facts-of-Life) as Roseanne's boss Booker.

When I watched Season One a few years later, it didn't seem as good as later seasons (except for of course the infamous last season), but this pilot (back when the series was made as Life and Stuff) holds up really well.  Although Barr is not technically an actress at this point, more of a personality, she is laugh-out-loud funny and of course she and Goodman have immediate, believable chemistry.  No one else, not even future Emmy-winner Metcalf, is anywhere near as interesting yet, but they don't have to be.  And, yes, the theme of an imperfect but loving working-class family (not the Cosbys, but not the Bundys either) is here right from the start.