Roseanne: Roseanne in the Hood

Roseanne: Roseanne in the Hood
ABC
October 17, 1995
Sitcom
DVD
C+

This episode starts out well, with Roseanne mocking David's "Chia beard" and facing competition from the new restaurant across the street, whose grand opening features "Schneider" (as Harrington is referred to throughout).  But then the teleplay by Mike Costa (his first of two) and Drew Ogier (his first of four), based on a story by Allan Stephan, and Roseanne herself go off the rails.  Not on a Season-Nine level but shark-teasing, as Roseanne and Jackie break into their rival's place and approximately sixteenth-month-pregnant Roseanne gets stuck in the vent above the oven (I guess the "hood" of the title).  Then Stomp shows up and does a dance number in the tag.

Who's the Boss?: Guess Who's Coming Forever?

Who's the Boss?: Guess Who's Coming Forever?
ABC
January 29, 1985
Sitcom
DVD
B-

Bud Wiser wrote this game-changing story.  Mona takes in a sheepdog named Grover and gets evicted from her apartment.  Then, at Tony's urging, Angela remodels the loft over her garage so her mother can move in.  The two women quarrel but admit to peacemaker Tony that they admire traits in each other.  Also, Mona tells the story of how Angela took care of the bills and everything at fourteen after her father died.  I'd have gone with a B, but the "family-ness" feels a bit forced, like Fonzie moving in over the Cunninghams' garage, especially with the dog shoehorned in.

Pat Harrington, Jr., who had played Schneider for nine years on One Day at a Time since we last heard from him on Wait Till Your Father Gets Home, appears as contractor Dominic Burgozzi, with his real son as his character's son.  This is the first of two WtB episodes directed by John Bowab, who did one for Soap and two for Bosom Buddies.

Wait Till Your Father Gets Home: Papa in New York

Wait Till Your Father Gets Home: Papa in New York
Syndicated
February 13, 1973
Cartoon, Sitcom
DVD
C

This Elinson-Paul episode is definitely one of the weakest in the series.  It has moments when it feels like there might be some sort of pay-off, like when the desk clerk thinks Harry and Ralph are a honeymooning couple, but both Ralph and Irma are too annoying.  And then we never get to actually see any New York scenery.

Wait Till Your Father Gets Home: Accidents Will Happen

Wait Till Your Father Gets Home: Accidents Will Happen
Syndicated
February 6, 1973
Cartoon, Sitcom
DVD
C+

Harry, while wearing slacks that Ralph thinks make him look like he should belong to the Gay Liberation Movement, slips on butter in a hotel dining room, in front of 100 ambulance-chasing lawyers.  I'm getting annoyed with the premise that Harry is the only honest person in town.  The "angel Harry" and "devil Harry" are a cute, if not particularly original device, and the Bonnie & Clyde nightmare is OK if not inspired.  Note that 7-year-old Jamie, who used to be 8, needs braces, which sounds really premature, especially considering the Tooth Fairy visited him not long ago.

Wait Till Your Father Gets Home: The Commune

Wait Till Your Father Gets Home: The Commune
Syndicated
January 23, 1973
Cartoon, Sitcom
DVD
B-

In this Elinson-Paul story, Alice goes to live in the title location.  Ralph assumes that it's a nudist camp as well as a Commie stronghold, so he infiltrates the place naked.  (We very briefly see his naked bottom.)  We also learn that he has a son in military school.  (We never see or hear his family, although he is married.)

Wait Till Your Father Gets Home: The Prowler

Wait Till Your Father Gets Home: The Prowler
Syndicated
December 19, 1972
Cartoon, Sitcom
DVD
B

This Elinson-Paul episode is the best in awhile, although I'm not sure where it fits into the chronology, since it has new-Chet but it also has the laugh track which had disappeared for the last few episodes.  In any case, perhaps because this is a cartoon rather than live action, Harry lives a nightmare when Ralph and his vigilante group start patrolling to capture the title character and decide that Harry is guilty.  Harry has an actual nightmare, where he's on Death Row.  Throughout the season, it's been made abundantly clear that this show is set in Southern California (based on geographical and cultural references), so that when there's a line about the Governor not having a chance to pardon Harry because he's too busy on the set of Death Valley Days, we don't have to have that further explained.  (And, yes, it's an anachronism, but then on one episode Ralph's friend was watching Gilligan's Island and Mr. Ed in prime time.  So maybe this isn't set quite in our world.)

Wait Till Your Father Gets Home: The New House

Wait Till Your Father Gets Home: The New House
Syndicated
December 12, 1972
Cartoon, Sitcom
DVD
B-

This episode by Jack Elinson and Norman Paul is similar to "The New Car," with Harry and his family deciding it's best to keep what they have, but I think it's a better episode because more satirical.  Also, the kids are more in character here, partly because old-Chet's voice is on this one.  (I know they didn't air in the order they were made.)

Hazel Shermet joins the voice cast, I think as the real estate agent this time.

Wait Till Your Father Gets Home: The New Car

Wait Till Your Father Gets Home: The New Car
Syndicated
December 5, 1972
Cartoon, Sitcom
DVD
C+

This episode gets marked down for Harry's sexist fantasy about trading in wives like cars (Alice has to explain to him that people are not the same as possessions), for Chet and Alice's uncharacteristic attitudes about "what will the neighbors think," and for the replacement of David Hayward as Chet by (I believe) Lennie Weinrib.  Hayward's Chet had sensitivity and intelligence that the new Chet lacks, making him just another goofy, lazy son character.  I do like the Cal Worthington parody (meriting the disclaimer at the beginning of the episode that no character should be mistaken for real life), and how Harry gets his revenge on live TV.

Hal Smith and Pat Harrington, Jr. both provide voices.