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: Stand on Your Man

Roseanne: Stand on Your Man
ABC
November 17, 1992
Sitcom
DVD
B

In this Moss & Dukane story, Arnie returns and wants Nancy back, leading to perhaps my favorite exchanges on the series, as Roseanne explains that things have changed since he's been out of town.
ROSEANNE: Like Nancy's a lesbian and we got a new LensCrafters.
DAN: Whoa, whoa, whoa!  Come again?
ROSEANNE: Yes, Dan, glasses in less than an hour!

For most of the episode, it seems that Arnie mainly wants Nancy back because of the wound to his male pride, but then it turns out the aliens (Clinton Allmon and Jeff Heston again) wanted him to lure Nancy back as breeding stock.  Meanwhile, the Lanford Lunch Box opens for business but a creepy customer threatens Roseanne.  Dan feels protective of course, but she, Nancy, and Jackie take a self-defense class.  In another fourth-wall-breaking tag, "Michael" appears on the aliens' spaceship, and "Tom" asks if Michael has heard good things about his new show, i.e. The Jackie Thomas Show, which would debut on December 1st.

Aliens Clinton Allmon and Jeff Heston return.  Wings Hauser appears again as Ty Tilden.  Doug Fieger makes his first of three appearances as Nick, I'm guessing the new poker buddy.  First Customer Joe Keyes would be back a couple times.

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).

Mork & Mindy: Mork Goes Erk

Mork & Mindy: Mork Goes Erk
ABC
February 8, 1979
Sitcom
DVD
B-

I wish I could give this a B, considering it has not only Poston and Fairchild, but David Letterman as an EST-like motivational speaker.  But I feel like it's not as good as it could be.  Still, I like seeing the various personalities bounce off each other, and of course I like that Mindy gives Mork a little kiss to convince him that, one, he does have emotions and that's a good thing, and two, he therefore shouldn't leave Earth.  Cora is absent, although there is a scene set at the music store.  And we get to see Susan's apartment again.  (It's nothing like before as far as I recall.)

Mork & Mindy: Mork's First Christmas

Mork & Mindy: Mork's First Christmas
ABC
December 14, 1978
Sitcom
DVD
B

This is producer Bruce Johnson's first of twelve Mork scripts, here collaborating with creator Dale McRaven, who did the pilot.  It's also the first of five directed by Jeff Chambers.  It manages to balance sentiment and humor, with Mork giving Mindy and her family happy memories, then and now.

Salesman David Ketchum was on That Girl three times.  Pat Cranshaw makes his second Mork appearance, as the Old Man at the department store.  Interestingly, there's no report to Orson, although Mork obviously learns a lot, including from Eugene (Jacquet) and Susan (Fairchild).

Mork & Mindy: Mork's Seduction

Mork & Mindy: Mork's Seduction
ABC
October 12, 1978
Sitcom
DVD
B-

Morgan Fairchild makes her first of three appearances as Mindy's frenemy Susan Taylor and, no, she doesn't seduce Mork, although she tries.  I didn't find this episode as funny as some of the recent ones, but I do like that Mindy admits she was jealous and that she and Mork share another sweet kiss.  In Mork's report to Orson, Mindy is clearly more on his mind than Susan is.

This is the first of two Mork stories written by Neil Lebowitz, who would do one for Three's Company the next year.

The Bob Newhart Show: Grand Delusion

The Bob Newhart Show: Grand Delusion
CBS
December 17, 1977
Sitcom
DVD
C+

I want to like this Lloyd Garver story where Bob and Emily go out to dinner to celebrate their tenth anniversary (a year or two early, but who's counting?) and end up fantasizing about what their lives would be like if they'd never married.  After all, it has a relatively early role for 27-year-old Morgan Fairchild, as Linda/Bianca.  But I don't think it's that funny, e.g. Jerry as a subservient servant in both fantasies, and I feel bad for Howard being cheated on as Emily's fantasy husband.  Still, it is cool to see Bob in a navigator's uniform and Emily in some very attractive outfits.