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.