Who's the Boss?: Mother and Child Disunion

Who's the Boss?: Mother and Child Disunion
ABC
October 31, 1989
Sitcom
DVD
C

This Graham & Donley episode, where Angela and Mona fight as she considers a merger with another advertising agency, has little to recommend it, except for some mild T & A flirtation.  Mona continues to flanderize into more of a lazy bitch, and even the "business party" scenes are very weak compared to the first season's "Protecting the President" episode.

Michael Durrell, who's Richard Braden, had played Carol's lawyer F. Peter Haversham on a few episodes of Soap.

Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers: Free Fallin'

Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers: Free Fallin'
Song released October 27, 1989
Music Video
DVD
C+

One of Petty's weaker videos, as shots of him at the Galleria alternate with the story of a girl (girls?) from the '50s (?) to '80s.  I don't see the connection between the lyrics and the visuals, beyond they're both set in the Valley.

Roseanne: Five of a Kind

Roseanne: Five of a Kind
ABC
October 24, 1989
Sitcom
DVD
B

Tom Arnold, not yet Roseanne's second husband at this time, plays the Aznad [inverse Danza] named character Arnie Thomas, for the first of nineteen times.  It's also the first of eight Roseanne stories by Norma Safford Vela, here collaborating with Danny Jacobson.  Dan has a bunch of his poker buddies over and, before the others arrive, Arnie gives Roseanne a kiss that flusters her.  She talks it out with Jackie, who's already a cop.  (Well, those six weeks flew by.)  The tag has Dan and his friends doing a sort of rap version of the Beverly Hillbillies theme.

Robert Miranda makes his first of three appearances as Andy, while Alan Blumenfeld, who's Zack, was a nameless man on Who's the Boss? in '85.

Who's the Boss?: Tony and the Professor

Tony as a professor

Who's the Boss?: Tony and the Professor
ABC
October 24, 1989
Sitcom
DVD
B

Tony meets a woman, Joan (Christine Kellogg, who was Morgan on It's Garry Shandling's Show), in a singles' bar and she asks him out.  He accepts but later lies to get out of it.  She turns out to be his new History professor.*  When he gets a C on a paper, he thinks it's because she rejected him.  Kudos on this plot not going where she would be out for revenge (like on Three's Company), as well as on how it handles the way Tony flirts, including with Angela.

Dennis Burkley makes his second and final appearance as Pee Wee, and no, he never appears with Tiny.


*These episodes don't seem to be airing in any chronology that makes sense, since Tony bought his textbooks last week but "In Your Dreams" was set during October.

Roseanne: House of Grown-Ups

Roseanne: House of Grown-Ups
ABC
October 10, 1989
Sitcom
DVD
B

This is another Josh Whedon story that compares and contrasts the two pairs of sisters.  Darlene, who is somehow now 13 (just months after she was 11), goes to a high school party with Becky, who French-kisses Jimmy Meltrigger (offscreen).  Meanwhile, Roseanne starts to miss Jackie, even before the latter leaves for six weeks of police training.  Dan is as always sweet, supportive, and silly, getting Roseanne to sing a little of "I Got You Babe" with him.

Who's the Boss?: Sam's Novel Romance

Who's the Boss?: Sam's Novel Romance
ABC
October 10, 1989
Sitcom
DVD
B

Richard Albrecht and Casey Keller's first of four WtB stories shows a different side of Sam, as she falls for a graduate student who's very into literature.  The audience and then Tony and Angela find out that the man is both uninterested in Sam and married.  Sam is hurt but reacts maturely, deciding to finish Wuthering Heights, since she still loves literature.  The tag has Tony and Angela getting worked up reading D.H. Lawrence, until they retreat to The Cat in the Hat.

Tara Karsian and Dan Stockenberg, who play the bickering bespectacled students, would return in the final episode of the season, there named Debbie and Kyle.

Roseanne: Somebody Stole My Gal

Creeped out yet?

Roseanne: Somebody Stole My Gal
ABC
October 3, 1989
Sitcom
DVD
C+

I honestly don't know what to make of this episode, which is baffling from its title onward.  It seems like it's going to be about what happens when Roseanne tries to straighten out paperwork at Dan's job site, but instead it turns into a story about a needy architect who clings to the Conner family.  At first it's funny, but it crosses over into disturbing, and then is meant to be touching, I think.  This wouldn't be the last episode to be tonally strange (Rosemary's Baby tribute, anyone?), but it does feel odd this early in the run, and while we're still in the '80s.

Who's the Boss?: In Your Dreams

Who's the Boss?: In Your Dreams
ABC
October 3, 1989
Sitcom
DVD
B

Daniel Palladino wrote this episode where Tony apartment- and cat-sits for Mrs. Rossini in Brooklyn.  Angela pays a surprise visit but ends up staying behind while he goes bowling with his old friends.  She's supposed to be waiting for the cat to come back, but she falls asleep and dreams of married life with Tony in Brooklyn.  Much of her real life is inverted, like Mona hating sex, and Sam and Jonathan getting along.  More importantly, she's heavily pregnant with her fifth child (there are twins offstage) but wants a career in advertising.  Tony is a loving husband-- Light and Danza are physical together in a way never seen on other episodes-- but his role as provider is too important to him to give up.

When she wakes up, they talk and she's relieved that, although he misses Brooklyn, he's grown beyond its old-fashioned values.  Still, I think part of her envies that life, or at least being able to have marriage and family with Tony.  We couldn't have known it at the time, but four seasons would pass and she'd never get that, although she and Tony do have a family of a different kind, and a relationship that is stronger than many marriages.

Just the Ten of Us: Quarterback Sneak

Just the Ten of Us: Quarterback Sneak
ABC
September 29, 1989
Sitcom
DVD
C+

In the second episode of the third season, 22-year-old Matt LeBlanc makes his first of two appearances as Todd Murphy, the star player on Coach's football team.  Wendy dates him once and then dumps him, so Coach "pimps his daughter."  Evan Arnold returns as Gavin Doosler, who joins the Lubbock girls' cheer squad.

Roseanne: Guilt by Disassociation

Roseanne: Guilt by Disassociation
ABC
September 26, 1989
Sitcom
DVD
B+

My mistake, Roseanne is still doing telemarketing in this episode written by, yes, Tom Arnold.  She's offered a secretarial job, but loses it in the same day when she can't work the computer (smaller than those of a decade earlier but still very dated, with green typeface).  There are some funny moments here, but there's also genuine pain, as we see that Roseanne feels like she's failed her family.  I like that things aren't wrapped up neatly at the end, like with the HR Lady calling and saying she's changed her mind.  Life goes on, and Roseanne has Dan's support, financial and emotional, as always.  (More and more, John Goodman's last name seems apt.)

Charlayne Woodard returns as Vonda and actually figures into the plot, while Juanita (Evelina Fernández, her last appearance) and Sylvia (Anne Faulkner, also her last) don't get a lot to do, but we meet their husbands.

Who's the Boss?: Life's a Ditch

Who's the Boss?: Life's a Ditch
ABC
September 26, 1989
Sitcom
DVD
B-

Writer Ross Brown, who did the "Living Dolls episode, retcons the back story of how Angela's modeling agent friend Trish (Michael Learned) met Sam's friend from Brooklyn Charlie (Leah Remini).  And this time we get both pairs of friends interacting, which is nice.  Also T & A flirt a little.  But I don't know why Sam couldn't wear her school clothes out of the house (with the swimwear hidden in the trunk or something), if she was seriously trying to get away with ditching school.  (It would still be wrong, but it'd be more plausible.)  Robert Briscoe Evans has his middle of three WtB roles as Bill.

Roseanne: The Little Sister

Roseanne: The Little Sister
ABC
September 19, 1989
Sitcom
DVD
B

In this episode, written oddly enough by 25-year-old Josh Whedon (his first of four), Jackie wants to become a cop and Roseanne very much disapproves.  Little sister Darlene clashes with Becky, and Dan's girlie magazine is involved.  While not as dark as the series would get, Metcalf's drunk scene is as much disturbing as funny, especially with Darlene there.  While I don't remember hearing anything more about Roseanne's telemarketer job from the previous episode, Jackie would indeed pursue a career in law enforcement.

Who's the Boss?: In Search of Tony

Who's the Boss?: In Search of Tony
ABC
September 19, 1989
Sitcom
DVD
B+

Braunstein & Perlow wrote this season-opener and game-changer.  The family goes with Angela on a business vacation to Jamaica, but even Angela is having fun more than working.  It bothers Tony that she's having fun without him.  Also, 17-year-old Sam says she'll be leaving for college in a year and eleven months.  (Was she left back or something?  Or is she still planning to take a year off and bum around Europe, now without Jesse?)  When Angela almost drowns topless, she and Tony quarrel, in front of a crowd of tourists, and then make their fun more competitive, culminating in a dance-off, she to "Hot, Hot, Hot," he to "Singing in the Rain."  He injures his knee doing the splits and she goes over to talk to him on a bench in a quieter area.

They not only talk things out but when she tells him that the best times of her life have been with him, they kiss passionately!  He thinks it's going to lead to sex and he says they can't do that until and unless they get married.  So they talk that out, too, although Angela doesn't admit she's been consciously in love with him for two years.  He, per the episode's title, needs to find himself and figure out his future before he can plan a future with her.  So, unlike Season Five, which was sort of treading in place, Season Six will have the shadow of this episode hanging over it, till it all comes crashing down in the season-closer.

Alan Haufrect, who was Mr. Miller on Bosom Buddies, is Hank Whiteman here.

Roseanne: Inherit the Wind

Introducing Jimmy Meltrigger

Roseanne: Inherit the Wind
ABC
September 12, 1989
Sitcom
DVD
B-

For the '89-90 season, Roseanne got moved to 9 p.m., with The Wonder Years taking its old slot after Who's the Boss?  Roseanne went from #2 in the ratings to #1.  (WtB dropped from #7 to #13, still very good.)  So this season-opener, which breaks another taboo, was seen by a lot of people that night.  It's odd watching it now, when TV has gotten much cruder, but I honestly can't think of another series of the time (maybe Married with Children) that could build an entire plot around a fart, without actually using the word "fart."  Becky passes gas while giving a speech in front of the entire Student Council, including her date for the evening, Jimmy Meltrigger (Stephen Dorff in his first of three appearances).  Darlene, whose attempt to compliment Becky earlier in the episode is rebuffed, is thrilled of course.  Dan and Roseanne try to be good, supportive parents, despite their amusement.  I didn't find the episode hilarious, but when Crystal brings over a large sympathy card, I did chuckle.  This is the only Roseanne episode written by Allan Katz, who did a couple for M*A*S*H.

Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers: Runnin' Down a Dream

Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers: Runnin' Down a Dream
Song released July 29, 1989
Music Video
DVD
B

Animation inspired by Little Nemo makes this one of the more unusual videos in a career with a lot of unusual videos.  Includes a quick reference to Alice in Wonderland, which of course was responsible for the imagery in "Don't Come Around Here No More."

Who's the Boss?: It's Somebody's Birthday

The van on the Pilot

Who's the Boss?: It's Somebody's Birthday
ABC
May 16, 1989
Sitcom
DVD
B

Alan Mandel wrote this season-closer where Tony's birthday, and even more so the idea of buying a new car and selling his van, makes Tony take stock of his life. Angela is very understanding and supportive here, but she also encourages him to grow, while still honoring the past.  Julie Payne, who's Skye here, was Dr. Sharon Rudell on The Bob Newhart Show.  Doug Shaffer, the car salesman, is played by the instantly recognizable Stuart Pankin, who was Frank on The Brady Girls Get Married, among many other roles.

Who's the Boss? in Season Five ranges from C to B+, averaging to a high B-.  Tony's entry into college has some impact on the show but is mostly relegated to the background.  Jonathan awkwardly enters his teens, but there's not yet the feeling that Pintauro is struggling to play straight.  (And to be fair, he wasn't out to himself till I think college.)  Sam's character continues to be a shallow '80s teen, no longer with Jesse to call her on it.  Mona continues to get meaner and sluttier.  Tony and Angela have some nice moments, but their chemistry is also pushed to the background much of the time.  The show is not in a rut and it hasn't jumped the shark, but this is arguably the least memorable season.  However, Season Six would shake things up in unexpected ways....

Family Ties: Alex Doesn't Live Here Anymore

Family Ties: Alex Doesn't Live Here Anymore [fragment]
NBC
May 14, 1989
Sitcom
VHS
C+

Shrug.  I liked Family Ties the first couple seasons, when it was a more balanced "generation gap with a twist" series.  Gradually the '80s and Michael J. Fox's star power took over and made this the Alex Keaton Show.  I still watched sometimes but I don't remember getting choked up about the finale even at the time.  I think I taped these last few minutes of the hour-long episode for "historical purposes," in the same way I taped part of Election Night six months earlier.  There's a moment or two that made me smile now, like when Tina Yothers as Jennifer tells Alex, "It was nice working with you," and you can see Fox break character a little.

Director Sam Weisman did a couple of the early episodes of Who's the Boss?, as well as fifty-six previous Family Ties.   And, yes, that's Courtney Cox as Alex's ex Lauren.

Who's the Boss?: In Sam We Trust

Kenneth Tigar

Who's the Boss?: In Sam We Trust
ABC
May 9, 1989
Sitcom
DVD
C

David Lesser wrote this lesser story where Sam's platonic friend Scott gets her to give him the answers to a French test, so he gives her a crib sheet for Chemistry.  Unfortunately, the teacher, Mr. Timmons (Kenneth Tigar, who was Spinkus on Bosom Buddies) finds the crib sheet.  Tony acts like he's never had a reason not to trust Sam before, but what about the "hickey" episode?  And Scott doesn't get his comeuppance.  I don't think the other elements of the episode work all that well either.

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....

Who's the Boss?: Ode to Angela

Who's the Boss?: Ode to Angela
ABC
May 2, 1989
Sitcom
DVD
B

Daniel Palladino wrote this story where we meet Angela's real first husband, poet Brian Thomas.  Twenty years ago, they ran off to Vegas and got married, but the next day he promised to file for a divorce in Mexico.  Now that he's engaged again, he found out that the papers weren't processed right.  He ends up falling for Angela again.  She has happy memories of him but that's the past.  Poor Tony has to deal with his jealousy in a new way, and he writes a bad poem that Angela loves because it comes from the heart.  She gives him a little kiss, which clearly gets to him, as does, in a different way, her playing footsy in the tag.  Pintauro is credited at IMDB, but he's not on the Nick at Nite version of the episode.  It would've been interesting to see Jonathan's reaction to all this.  Mona is of course amused by her daughter's accidental bigamy with Michael.

Just the Ten of Us: Rock n' Roll Fantasy

Just the Ten of Us: Rock n' Roll Fantasy
ABC
April 28, 1989
Sitcom
VHS
B-

Not unlike the Brady kids, the four teenage daughters, AKA the Lubbock Babes, formed a singing group, doing entirely cover songs if I recall correctly.  The girls had nice voices and they wore the height of late '80s fashion.  Here, in an episode written by show creator Dan Guntzleman with Michael Sullivan, who also directed, the Babes daydream as they perform at the local pizza parlor.  Wendy's fantasy in particular breaks the fourth wall, with the family appearing as actors who have the real-life names-- Jamie, JoAnn, etc.  Note that this episode mildly ships Gavin Doosler (Evan Arnold again) with both Connie and Cindy.

Holly Haber, who previously played Sister Adolf on the "fox in the henhouse" episode, is a Doctor here.  Michael Gilbert Lewis, the Priest, would be a Busboy on Who's the Boss? the next year.  Rich Reinhart sort of plays himself, in that he's a Writer in Wendy's fantasy.  This episode closed out the season, and the next one we'll look at is from early in Season Three.

Who's the Boss?: Tony Does Golf

Who's the Boss?: Tony Does Golf
ABC
April 25, 1989
Sitcom
DVD
B-

Perlow & Braunstein wrote this episode where Angela wins a country club membership for Tony so he can play golf.  He befriends the owner of the country's largest sporting goods company, so Mona encourages him to get the account for Angela.  There are some nice moments, especially between Tony & Angela, from her pulling her into bed and saying, "I love you!" in gratitude, to her being willing to risk the account, but I feel like there's not much new here.

Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers: I Won't Back Down

Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers: I Won't Back Down
Song released April 1989
Music Video
DVD
B

Petty again uses then cutting-edge visual technology but it's Ringo who steals the show.  Also features fellow Traveling Wilburys George Harrison and Jeff Lynne.  Note that the "book and box" motif would be reused in future TP & HB videos.

Roseanne: Dear Mom and Dad

Roseanne: Dear Mom and Dad
ABC
April 18, 1989
Sitcom
DVD
B+

Roseanne's parents, Beverly (Estelle Parsons, in the first of fifty-nine appearances in the role) and Al (John Randolph in his first of only two, and, yes, he was also Emily Hartley's father), pay a surprise visit and drive everyone crazy, in another very funny and insightful episode, this one penned by Danny Jacobson.  The later presentation of the parents would have darker tones, but it's understandable that we don't get into it in the first season.  Also, Beverly's line about worrying that 32-year-old Jackie will turn out to be like Aunt Dale the gym teacher would end up being ironic on several counts.  The episode contains a surprise (and unnecessary) cameo by Bruce Willis at the end.

Roseanne: Death and Stuff

Roseanne: Death and Stuff
ABC
April 11, 1989
Sitcom
DVD
B+

This is another episode Bill Pentland wrote and it's very funny.  The title is of course a spin on "Life and Stuff," and there is a sense that, although the situation of a salesman dying in the Conners' kitchen is played for farce, the reactions are rooted in recognizable human behavior.  The nameless salesman is well acted, alive and dead, by 74-year-old Jeff Corey, sixteen years after he was the title character in the "Old Man Rivers" episode of The Bob Newhart Show, that is, Carol's elderly doctor boyfriend.  (He was also Hassan on What's Happening!!, but what's truly remarkable is his onscreen career ran from 1938 to 2000!)  Meanwhile the Conners are trying to sell their old washer & dryer, and Darlene needs to make baklava for school, getting unexpected help from the Greek-American cop.

Lee Garlington, who plays Carole Karoszek, would have a memorable cameo as Ms. Foster from the IRS on Who's the Boss? a couple years later.

Who's the Boss?: Working Girls

Sam and Bonnie on a different episode

Who's the Boss?: Working Girls
ABC
April 11, 1989
Sitcom
DVD
B-

Three years after "Junior Executive," Sam again has the chance to work with Angela, as part of a week-long program PTA President Tony has worked out.  But Sam chooses learning "domestic engineering" with him, thinking it'll be easier.  Bonnie works with Angela, and has a great time.  Sam gets jealous and makes Bonnie switch.  I would've gone with a C+, since Sam's behavior here is still problematic, but one, she is called on it, including by Bonnie, and two, there's a genuinely touching moment where Sam compares her relationship with Angela to that of her friends with their mothers.

This was written by Mike Weinberger, who did an early episode of Welcome Back, Kotter and three late Three's Company episodes; I'm assuming that Jake Weinberger, who didn't work on any other of my shows, is his brother, son, or father.  This is the only WtB episode directed by Frank Bonner, who at the time was a semi-regular (and sometime director) on Just the Ten of Us.

Who's the Boss?: Men Are People, Too

Who's the Boss?: Men Are People, Too
ABC
April 4, 1989
Sitcom
DVD
B-

Eric Gilliland wrote this episode where Tony convinces Angela to hire his ex-coach, Ralph (Dan Hedaya, probably best known at the time as Carla's ex-husband, Nick Tortelli, on Cheers), to build a skylight for the kitchen.  (Is this the first and only time we find out there's no room directly upstairs?)  Mona sets out to get his attention, seeing this shy, old-fashioned man as a challenge, so she pretends to love opera and dote on her grandson.  They go out once but then she's ready to move on to the next man.  Tony, who's changed after all these years with Angela in Connecticut, disapproves.  While I agree with Mona that she has the right to date or not date whoever she wants, it doesn't sit well with me that she went out of her way to get the guy, including pretending to be someone she's not.  Still, there are some interesting insights into her and into her friendship with Tony.

Roseanne: Toto, We're Not in Kansas Anymore

Roseanne: Toto, We're Not in Kansas Anymore
ABC
March 28, 1989
Sitcom
DVD
B-

Grace McKeaney wrote this episode where a tornado hits Lanford.  The special effects are nice, but the rhythm of the episode feels a little off, like when Roseanne is worried about Jackie, who shows up before the commercial break.  Announcer Hal Rayle would later be a Narrator on Who's the Boss?

Who's the Boss?: Living Dolls

Guess which one's a vain tease and which
one's the naive, trusting girl from Idaho.

Who's the Boss?: Living Dolls
ABC
March 28, 1989
Sitcom
DVD
C+

Yet another back-door pilot about modeling, although this one did become a regular series called, yes, Living Dolls.  (It ran for twelve episodes.)  This isn't bad but it certainly wouldn't have made me watch LD.  The characters are cliches, although there are some nice moments between the two leads, and Sam isn't shoehorned into the plot quite as badly as Angela on the "Charmed Lives" episode.

Michael Learned appears as Trish Baldwin, a much nicer college friend of Angela's than the Trish we met in Season One.  (The ten-year age difference between Light and Learned is lampshaded a bit when it turns out that each claims to be ten years younger than the other.)  This Trish runs a teen-modeling agency, and one of her models is street-smart Charlie Briscoe, played by Leah Remini.  Charlie turns out to be an old Brooklyn friend of Sam's, who's at the agency doing a story for the school paper.  OK, not terribly plausible, but still better than all we're expected to believe in "Charmed Lives."

Bobby Brett, who plays Ike Calaboni had previously appeared as Gene.  It looks like going to series meant heavy recasting, but I like Vivica A. Fox (later of the daytime soap Generations), who was replaced by Halle Berry.  Ross Brown wrote this and the other episode about Charlie, while director Sgueglia had recently started working for Roseanne.

Who's the Boss?: Heather Can Wait

Who's the Boss?: Heather Can Wait
ABC
March 21, 1989
Sitcom
DVD
B

Don Segall, who wrote one episode for M*A*S*H, co-wrote this episode where new neighbors Pam (Leah Ayres, who would be Fake Marcia on the Bradys) and Mark Harper (Sam McMurray, at the time recognizable from his years as a regular on The Tracey Ullman Show), along with their precocious 12-year-old daughter Heather, move in and annoy Tony and Angela.  The clash is similar and yet different from the Conners and the Langs in a recent Roseanne episode.  The Langs were gently mocked but they were nice people, while the Harpers use "niceness" to cover up aggression.  Tony and Angela quarrel with them, especially after T & A catch Jonathan and Heather kissing.  (Light's hyperventilation adds a whole other level to the humor.)  And the tag scene is one of those supernatural or at least peculiar ones that would pop up now and again in the second half of the series run, this time with Mona practicing voodoo.

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: The Slice of Life

Roseanne: The Slice of Life

ABC

March 7, 1989

Sitcom
DVD
B

Anderson & McFadzean co-wrote this episode where Roseanne and Darlene have been bickering for two weeks, so they both feel guilty when Darlene's appendix bursts during a baseball game that Darlene discouraged Roseanne from attending.  This is probably the most dramatic episode of the series so far.  And It's a nice touch making the doctor a black mom.

John Walter Davis, who was the Seven of Spades in the 1985 Alice in Wonderland TV-Movie, plays Darlene's coach Ted Graham.

Who's the Boss?: Boozin' Buddies

Who's the Boss?: Boozin' Buddies

ABC

March 7, 1989

Sitcom

DVD
B-

Claylene Jones wrote this story about Sam getting drunk at a party and then calling Tony a hypocrite when he drinks with his friends.  It's another episode where Sam has a friend we never see again, this time Nancy.  Philly Fingers (John Del Regno) and Tiny McGee (Walter Olkewicz) return, and we meet Tony's other friend Vinnie (played by Vinny Argiro, who previously was a nameless man on the show) but none of them are given much to do.

Roseanne: Becky's Choice

Johnny Swanko AKA The Tongue Bandit

Roseanne: Becky's Choice
ABC
February 28, 1989
Sitcom
DVD
B+

This, by Gelman & Jacobson, is the funniest episode so far and it also foreshadows Becky's eventual interest in bad boy Mark.  Roseanne sees Chip's mom (Andrea Walters again) at the grocery store, so she invites the Langs over for dinner, not just Chip (Jared Rushton for the third and last time) and Bonnie but his dad Edgar, a dentist.  Becky and Chip have been dating six months already, don't ask me how.  She still likes him, but she also likes an older boy (high school sophomore, while she's a 13-year-old eighth-grader) who's known for his kissing skills.  (And it's not on the cheek, like Chip's kiss.)  Roseanne catches them kissing and yells at Becky to get back in the house (where they're still entertaining her official boyfriend and his family).  Becky later tells her parents that they're not as "hip and with it" as they think.  They think it over but still forbid her to see the other boy.  And meanwhile, the stuff with Chip's parents is hilarious, especially the "aloha" sequence.  Jackie appears briefly, on her way to a date with Booker (unseen this episode).

Who's the Boss?: Party Double

Who's the Boss?: Party Double
ABC
February 28, 1989
Sitcom
DVD
B-

This story by Cinnamon, Fisch, Kallis, and Wengrod does not use its special guest star, Frank Sinatra, nearly as well as Ray Charles was used a couple seasons earlier.  As with the "Frank Sinatra tickets" plot on Man About the House and Three's Company, both Tony and Mona want to go see him, although this time it's a fancy gala rather than a concert, and instead of competing to go, Mona steals Angela's ticket and identity and takes Tony as her "and guest."  Note that it's pretty amazing, even by sitcom standards, that when Angela comes back from a business trip early, she not only turns on TV coverage of the event, but she changes into an evening gown (and whatever other preparations she needs) and drives to New York in plenty of time to catch her mother lying.

Messenger Gary Lieberthal and Photographer Pat Sturges would be back as Rey and Liz respectively.

Roseanne: Mall Story

As when Sam got her prom dress on Who's the
Boss?, most of the choices are late '80s ghastly.

Roseanne: Mall Story
ABC
February 21, 1989
Sitcom
DVD
B-

Laurie Gelman wrote this story mostly set at the Lanford Mall.  Not much happens, other than Dan reluctantly buying shoes and Becky wanting to buy a dress for a dance.  (Oh, and Crystal is happy for a change, since she loves to shop.)  I like that we see here the sacrifices the Conners have to make, when they'd like to get their children what they want but can't always afford it.  The economic aspect of lower-middle-class life is one of the special things about this series, especially in the world of '80s and '90s sitcoms.  I might've gone with a B, but the Jackie thread of her wanting to leave Lanford and have a better life is brought up and then wrapped up too easily.  (For now.)

Bickering Wife Beverly Dixon was Woman #1 on Mork & Mindy and Evelyn on Three's Company.  John Sgueglia directs Roseanne for the first of seven times.

Who's the Boss?: First Date

Who's the Boss?: First Date
ABC
February 21, 1989
Sitcom
DVD
B

Daniel Palladino's first of ten WtB scripts has Tony and Angela go on their first official, intentional, "real" date.  Unfortunately, Tony chooses a comedy club where the comic mocks their relationship.  (I'm not sure if the irony was intended at the time, but Tom Villard, who plays the comic, was probably best known as one of the stars of We've Got It Made, where leering at your blonde, buxom housekeeper was perfectly normal).  There are some good moments here, but I feel like they're skirting the issue of whether or not Tony and Angela should go out, so I can't give a B+.  Note that Jonathan has a move for putting his arm around a girl although he has not yet had his first kiss.  (And believe me, we'll know when he does!)

Just the Ten of Us: Zorro en el Gallinero

Just the Ten of Us: Zorro en el Gallinero
ABC
February 17, 1989
Sitcom
VHS
B-

This Growing Pains spin-off had a more likable cast, an offbeat (for its sub-genre) sense of humor, and of course more extreme late '80s fashions.  The title of the series seems like a misnomer, but it was about Coach Graham and Elizabeth Lubbock (Kirchenbauer and Harmon) and their eight children, the youngest two only babies and not often seen.  It aired on Fridays as what became, in the fall of 1989, ABC's TGIF line-up, although I doubt it's as well remembered as, for instance, Full House or Perfect Strangers.

The show focused mostly on the oldest four kids, the teenaged daughters: devout eldest Marie (Langenkamp), airheaded Cindy (Luner), her slutty twin Wendy (Brooke Theiss), and intellectual Connie (Willette).  In this episode, from Season Two, they're all in pursuit of Spanish exchange student Carlos, "the fox in the henhouse" of the title.  Brother J.R. (Shakman) as usual has little to do, but kid sister Sherry (Zeigler) serves as interpreter some of the time, even using the word "sluts"!  And this may well be the episode with the most double or pretty much single entendres.  Keep an eye out for the adorkable Gavin Doosler (Evan Arnold), who contributes accidentally gay entendres.  Also, yes, that's Frank "Herb Tarlek" Bonner in the unlikely but recurring role of a priest, Father Hargis.

This is one of seven episodes that Jonathan Weiss directed, and we'll later look at one he did for the third and final season.  It's also the 600th show I've reviewed for the '80s.  I doubt we'll make it to 700, but we will pass double the output for the '60s.

Roseanne: Nightmare on Oak Street

Roseanne: Nightmare on Oak Street
ABC
February 14, 1989
Sitcom
DVD
B

Grace McKeaney wrote this story that, among other things, shows how television (especially ABC) had progressed since Samantha Micelli got her first bra four years earlier.  Darlene reaches menarche and has more trouble adjusting to puberty than tomboy Sam.  Dan doesn't know what to say to Darlene, but Roseanne does, giving a feminist and somewhat pagan speech about Darlene being part of Nature now.  Meanwhile, Becky, who seems oblivious to all this (but then she and Darlene were never close), has another offscreen date with her boyfriend Chip and lets him kiss her on the cheek.  Note that we find out some more about Roseanne and Jackie's still as yet unseen mother.

Interestingly, instead of the female director who's been handling most of the first season, Ellen Falcon, this episode went to John Pasquin, for the first of twenty-five times.

Who's the Boss?: Winter Break

Who's the Boss?: Winter Break
ABC
February 14, 1989
Sitcom
DVD
B-

Tony and Angela plan to spend the weekend bonding with, respectively, 16-year-old Sam and 13-year-old Jonathan, but Angela gets sick, as does Mona, and Tony meets a pretty ski instructor.  So Jonathan finds he has to be "the man of the house," with a funny line about two sick women, one of them 83 and the other a Vietnam veteran, while Sam scares the ski instructor off by pretending that Tony is involved with Angela, "the woman we've lived with the past five years."  This is Katherine Helmond's 200th show I've reviewed!

Roseanne: Father's Day

Roseanne: Father's Day
ABC
February 7, 1989
Sitcom
DVD
B

Lauren Eve Anderson wrote this episode where we meet Dan's father Ed (Ned Beatty, perfectly cast).  Ed is a likable guy but a bit of a know-it-all, and he grates on Dan, partly because Dan can see Ed in himself.  (And later we'd learn a darker background to Dan's parents.)  Roseanne has some laugh-out-loud lines, but it's Goodman who steals the tag scene, by deliberately rambling like his father.  Note that Dan's age is shifted here, to 1953, with his mother pregnant again in '56.  (Did the baby die?  Dan doesn't seem to have any living siblings.)

Jackie is absent for the first time, but we do see Crystal and get a sense of her chemistry with Ed.

Who's the Boss?: Cardinal Sin

Who's the Boss?: Cardinal Sin
ABC
February 7, 1989
Sitcom
DVD
B

This Braunstein & Perlow story has Angela accompanying Tony to St. Louis for a Cards "Old Timers" reunion game.  Unfortunately, Betty, a groupie that Tony is still attracted to and scared of, also shows up.  So Tony pretends that Angela is his wife, but that doesn't discourage Betty, especially with Tony's teammates egging her on to dance with Tony.  This episode, in the exact middle of the season, finds Angela still hiding her love for Tony and he seeming unsure what he wants from her, or Betty.  Note that they discover they both like the movie The Way We Were, which would have a callback of sorts in the final season.  Also notice that it now seems like Sam is the babysitter, with Mona more of an adolescent than she was in the first season.

Gwen Van Dam, who was Jan's teacher Mrs. Watson on The Brady Bunch, plays the nameless older woman who, with her husband, keeps catching Tony at embarrassing moments.  Lionel Mark Smith, whose debut was Big Al on What's Happening!!, plays Davey.  Jane Daly, who was Midge-Ann on Soap, is Pam here.  Kevin Scannell, who played "MacArthur" on the M*A*S*H finale, is Burl.

Day by Day: A Very Brady Episode

Day by Day: A Very Brady Episode
NBC
February 5, 1989
Sitcom
VHS
B

If anyone remembers this usually bland sort of spin-off of Family Ties it is for this very episode.  And I would've gone with a B+, but, ugh, the parents are boring!  (The mother, Kate was played by Linda Kelsey, who was Lt. Mickey Baker on M*A*S*H but may be best known for Lou Grant.)  No wonder son Ross (the eventually ironically cast Christopher Daniel Barnes, Greg Brady in the '90s big-screen parodies) wants to escape into The Brady Bunch.  Not that he's a very observant viewer.  Not only does he have no idea who Benedict Arnold is (and B.A. is name-dropped at least as much as Raquel Welch on Bunch), but he's somehow developed the erroneous impression that Mike and Carol were permissive parents.  True, they rarely yelled at their kids, but they would never shrug off an F on a History paper.

That aside, once we get into Ross's dream, where he's Chuck Brady (a nod to Happy Days I believe), it's almost as much fun as the studio audience thinks it is.  (Really, they sound like they're having the laughter and applause equivalents of orgasms.)  Some of it's just sheer affection and delight when any Brady cast member enters the still '70s-looking room, and we do get to see six of the nine, including Bobby in a mustache and Marcia extremely pregnant.  To the credit of writer Andy Borowitz (who did five Square Pegs episodes, including the one with Bill Murray) and moonlighting-from-Who's-the-Boss? director Asaad Kelada, the Bradys and Alice are given things to do and say, genuinely funny lines and movements that they overact with obvious joy.  (Yes, Robert Reed, too.)

My guess is, given the episode title, this was commissioned right after the surprise hit of the Christmas TV-movie.  While not as "OMG, they got that in, too!" as the '90s movies, putting a cynical late '80s teen into this setting allows for Ross to be our surrogate and react to things like the "serious" instrumental music that plays during advice scenes, and indeed his own succumbing to the Brady wardrobe and "perm."  Bear in mind that in '89, mocking the Bunch in this affectionate way was still relatively new.  (The staging of episodes as The Real Live Brady Bunch, with Jane Lynch and Andy Richter, was still a couple years off.)  So that's part of what's going on with the studio audience, too, the shock of recognition.  I think even a casual Bunch viewer would still get a kick out of this, almost three decades later.  And, yes, that is a post-SNL and pre-Seinfeld Julia Louis-Dreyfus lusting after Greg Brady.

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.

Who's the Boss?: Ton-An Enterprises [fragments]

Tie-dye mania!

Who's the Boss?: Ton-An Enterprises [fragments]
ABC
January 31, 1989
Sitcom
DVD
C+

The recording (off Nick at Night) of this Donley & Graham episode isn't very playable, so I saw just a few minutes, plus a sort of slide-show of different moments.  And what I saw was OK, if weird in some ways, like Tony and Angela wanting to goose each other with the vacuum, and Sam suddenly having an otherwise never seen blonde friend as well as Bonnie.  Danza co-directed this with someone who didn't work on any of my other shows.

Roseanne: The Monday Through Friday Show

Roseanne: The Monday Through Friday Show
ABC
January 24, 1989
Sitcom
DVD
B-

Danny Jacobson wrote this episode where the threads don't all come together but there are some nice moments.  Both Becky and Darlene have crises (apparently DJ is too little to have real problems yet), Becky having to dissect a frog or ruin her perfect A average, and Darlene failing at her job as papergirl.  Meanwhile, Dan and Roseanne decide to finally go on a real honeymoon but can't agree where, till Jackie saves the day by paying for the kids to leave so Roseanne and Dan can have a staycation weekend.  I'm assuming the title of this episode is due to there recently being an episode called "Saturday," and no, I don't know if they did one called "Sunday."  Note that this is the first time I noticed any of the kids' ages being referred to, with Darlene saying she's 11.

This is the 1900th show I've reviewed, and yes, I expect to catch up with the year sometime during the 1990s.

Who's the Boss?: Your Grandmother's a Bimbo

Who's the Boss?: Your Grandmother's a Bimbo
ABC
January 24, 1989
Sitcom
DVD
B-

Bud Wiser wrote this story where Jonathan runs for Class Treasurer at the same time that Mona comes up with a new campaign for Mature Woman magazine, with herself as the bombshell cover girl.  "Bimbo" seems like a pretty dated term for the late '80s (it was big on Laverne & Shirley, but that was set in the '50s and '60s), yet considering that four years earlier the WtB writers had trouble getting the word "bra" on the air, perhaps it's not surprising.  I like that this episode focuses on Jonathan and Mona's relationship for a change, but I find the attitude towards Jonathan being repeatedly beat up, especially Tony joking about it, weird.

Thomas Calloway, who was Phillip towards the end of Soap and Capt Sweeney on M*A*S*H, plays Jake Ashby here.

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: Saturday

Roseanne: Saturday
ABC
January 10, 1989
Sitcom
DVD
B

David McFadzean wrote this episode where Dan tries to fix his truck with the dubious help of his friend Dwight (William Sadler in his second and last appearance on the show).  Dwight is interested in Jackie, but the audience and Roseanne can see what a sexist pig he is.  Jackie tries to give him a chance but gives up when he gets crude with her.  Dan thinks Dwight is heartbroken, but Dwight soon sets his sights on Crystal.  The tag scene with Dan and Roseanne sitting in the front seat of the truck is sweet and funny.  Barr's real-life first husband, Bill Pentland, plays Dan's other friend Freddy Meeker and would later write a couple episodes.