Roseanne: April Fool's Day

Note that Dan and Roseanne
are wearing red, white, and blue.

Roseanne: April Fool's Day
ABC
April 10, 1990
Sitcom
DVD
B-

This Steve Paymer story about Tax Day is a bit heavy-handed, but I do like the fourth-wall-breaking reactions to the sting of music whenever the word "audit" is mentioned.  Judy Kain, who was Janet's friend Joan Ferguson on Three's Company, here plays an unknown character.  (I mean, I think I spotted her waiting in line at the IRS office, but I'm not sure and IMDB doesn't know.)

Who's the Boss?: Beautician Heal Thyself

Who's the Boss?: Beautician Heal Thyself
ABC
April 10, 1990
Sitcom
DVD
B-

In Mike Teverbaugh and Linda Va Salle's first of eleven WtB stories, 20-year-old Al just graduated from beauty college and has decided to open a salon in Brooklyn.  Tony has to help him with his people skills, but finds the time to flirt with Angela about wearing her hair up to reveal her "Grace Kelly" neck.  Naomi Serotoff returns as Mrs. Laudicina.

Who's the Boss?: Road Scholar

Who's the Boss?: Road Scholar
ABC
March 27, 1990
Sitcom
DVD
B-

In this Gene Braunstein story, Tony and Sam go on a road trip to visit potential colleges for her (hence the title), with a cute device of cars on a map.  She has her heart set on a college in California but, after a talk with Angela, realizes it'd be best if she went to Ridgemont with Tony but not live at home.  She's here interested in Communications as a major, which fits with her managing Al's band, but I don't remember much being done with this in the final two seasons.  Note that Jonathan is now taller than Sam and already has college plans.

Roseanne: Fender Bender

Roseanne: Fender Bender
ABC
March 20, 1990
Sitcom
DVD
C+

Although there are elements I like in this story by Penelope Spheeris*, such as Crystal standing up for Roseanne, and Jackie doing her "tough cop" thing, I just don't think it's that funny or realistic.  Roseanne's former employer, Mrs. Meg Wellman (Debra Mooney), hits Roseanne's car and everyone urges Roseanne to sue.  Debbie (Melora Walters) and Iris (Lori Tan Chinn) return, but Marsha is strangely absent from all the scenes at her beauty parlor.


*Yes, that Penelope Spheeris, a couple years before she directed Wayne's World.  She and her co-writer, Bill Gerber, didn't work on any of my other shows except I think as story editors on Roseanne.  

Whose Line Is It Anyway?: Series 2 Compilation 2

Whose Line Is It Anyway?: Series 2 Compilation 2
Channel Four
16 March 1990
Improv Game Show
DVD
C+

This is the weaker part, epitomized by the weaker American Musical from #2.1.  (Greg steals it twice.)  The main shipping note is that Sandi & Mike got an alternate FATS on #2.11 and she ends up "enveloping him in her bumpers," which they both enjoy.  Mike & Josie do a sweet, apparently first, duet, on #2.4.  And Mike cracks Paul up in Props, although less than on the Christmas episode.

Whose Line Is It Anyway? in its second series ranges from C- to B-, with the exception of that wonderful Christmas episode (B+).  This again comes out to being on the C+/B- border as with Series One.  The show can be wonderful sometimes but it remains uneven, often in one episode.  When it came back ten months later, it would start out very well and then go into another slump, although I'll mention here that the air-date order on IMDB does not at all resemble the order my VHS copies aired on Comedy Central.

Who's the Boss?: Operation Mona

Who's the Boss?: Operation Mona
ABC
March 13, 1990
Sitcom
DVD
B-

David Lesser wrote the teleplay based on a story by Joe Fisch, and even though they'd both done a handful of other WtB episodes, this one feels off, with the exception of two great back-to-back scenes.  Shortly after Mona rudely dismisses Angela's offer to buy her a condo, Mona finds out she has to have a gall bladder operation, but even then she refuses to forgive Angela for calling her an ingrate.  We don't find out the reasons for her coldness until she has a dream about her late husband (Efrem Zimbalist, Jr., who was 71 at the time, but maybe Robert is supposed to have aged in Mona's imagination).  Helmond's acting is at its Soap height here and in the following scene, where she and Light have a warm, touching conversation.

Doug Shanklin, who's Fireman #2, was Ron on Three's Company.

Whose Line Is It Anyway?: Series 2 Compilation 1

"I like fishing for that trout...."

Whose Line Is It Anyway?: Series 2 Compilation 1
Channel Four
9 March 1990
Improv Game Show
DVD
B-

Like I said, #2.15 is featured prominently, with Clive joining in on a Rap, and the panelists playing That'll Be Charlie Now and Musical Producers.  We can see Paul and Tony teasing Josie by using Mike, and some other complex interaction that is not shippy per se but is not non-shippy.  Josie & Mike do a sweet duet ("still about a lemon-squeezer"), and Ryan & Sandi are given a FATS situation that emphasizes their height difference: meeting on a blind date.  (And it's fair to say that, unlike Sandi & Mike, this was not a successful blind date, as they're never again on the same episode.)  I don't have room to tag Archie and Jonathan P., but they're in an alternate Party Quirks for #2.9.

Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers: A Face in the Crowd

The wrong A Face in the
Crowd, not that it matters

Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers: A Face in the Crowd
Song released March 3, 1990
Music Video
DVD
B-

A lovely, melancholy song paired with a video that's weird even by Petty standards.  I couldn't tell if it was about the 1930s or unrequited love or what.  Interesting though, of course.

Whose Line Is It Anyway?: Episode 2.15

Whose Line Is It Anyway?: Episode 2.15
Channel Four
2 March 1990
Improv Game Show
DVD
B-

A great cast provides an uneven episode, with lows (two words, "dog raper") and highs ("Spongeman!"), and a moment that would deconstruct the entire first two series of the programme.
Paul: (as the World's Worst person to be stuck in a lift with, playing it completely deadpan of course) Hello, I'm John Sessions.  (The crowd goes crazy, Mike, Tony, and especially Josie are amazed and amused, and Clive says, "Oh, please.")

Also, note that the Twiglets running joke at Party Quirks, which Tony recently used with Ron West, is now used by Host Tony towards Paul, who turns it inside out.  And for the second episode in a row, a "fellow competitor" guesses a Guest, this time Mike guessing Paul.

I remember this episode as better than it is, because one, I forget the just OK games, like Song Styles, and remember all the things that ended up on the Compilations, which we'll get to tomorrow....

Roseanne: To Tell the Truth

Roseanne: To Tell the Truth
ABC
February 27, 1990
Sitcom
DVD
B

Jacobson & Vela wrote this second part as well.  Three weeks have passed and Roseanne and Jackie aren't speaking.  They reconcile when Gary (Brian Kerwin again) proposes to Jackie.  But the happily ever after is more complicated than that and, while Roseanne is eager to plan Jackie's wedding, Jackie and Gary realize that they've been rushing into things.  Gilbert has a good little scene where Darlene lies for her mother and gets caught.  Note that Roseanne implies, in front of her daughters, that she was not a virgin when she got married.  (And neither will they be, although, like her, they'll marry the men that they lost their virginities to.)  Also, the end credits have stills from Charles & Diana's wedding in 1981, I think meant to be ironic not only in regards to Roseanne's wedding plans, but to the idea of marital bliss, as Chuck and Di were known to be having problems by then.

Who's the Boss?: Couple Trouble

McNally on Star Trek:
The Next Generation

Who's the Boss?: Couple Trouble
ABC
February 27, 1990
Sitcom
DVD
B+

Daniel Palladino wrote this story where Tony and Angela meet a couple while dancing.  They seem to have a lot in common with Brad (Terrence E. McNally, who was a Laxative Salesman on Mork & Mindy) and Jane, who also work together, but B & J are officially dating and in fact get engaged that evening.  T & A are happy for them, until Brad hits on Angela, and Jane hits on Tony.  The episode is one of the funnier ones of the season, especially some of Tony's reactions and line readings, but it also works on the level of T & A comparing and contrasting their relationship to B & J's, including B & J's fear of commitment.  One of the best tags of the series appears here, with Angela demonstrating to a surprisingly passive Tony how Brad grabbed her and kissed her, with Mona getting the last word.

Note that early in the episode, Angela claims that she and Tony don't have any friends in common, which is not the impression I get from other episodes.  Also note that Angela indirectly refers to the Berlin Wall coming down, when she says that "The chimes of freedom are ringing throughout Eastern Europe."

Whose Line Is It Anyway?: Episode 2.14

Whose Line Is It Anyway?: Episode 2.14
Channel Four
23 February 1990
Improv Game Show
DVD
C

Sigh, this episode.  OK, so Tony/Sandi is a wondrous thing.  Look at that still!  He's playing a fanzine interviewer and she's Snow White and he is uber-naughty and she's playing it sweet, but she is totally his match, and there's loads of chemistry, no matter what their orientations, and did I mention that they're having a secret affair in this Party Quirks, which she's so good at she guesses the guests even when Host Tony can't?

But the episode kicks off with Authors, where he's extremely disgusting as the Marquis de Sade (actually worse than you might expect), and the other two players on this episode are friggin' Ron West and Rory McGrath, who are seldom if ever funny, I mean Ron has a line where he's a vicar and he says something about the eulogy "being doned today," and I can't believe how painful some of this episode is.  But the Sandi/Tony is a wondrous thing.  This episode, sigh.  It would be C- but I'll give a C because it ends with Sandi reading the credits as Mae West and because this is the episode where giggly!Tony begins to be a factor, although he's trying to be serious even in that still, although you know he's inwardly gleeful because Sandi helps him set up the "7-Up" joke.

Roseanne: All of Me

Roseanne: All of Me
ABC
February 20, 1990
Sitcom
DVD
B

In this Vela & Jacobson story, Roseanne interferes with Jackie's love life, this time Jackie's new boyfriend, Gary Hall (Brian Kerwin, who would return three times in the role).  I like that characters can be both wrong and right here, not just the two sisters (who are currently 33 and 36), but also Gary.  These are good people, but they make mistakes and have fears and insecurities.  I am a little worried because I know that Jackie will be Flanderized down the road, but at this point her neuroses are realistic.  This episode ends on a cliffhanger, with Jackie kicking Roseanne out of her apartment.

Who's the Boss?: I Dream of Genealogy

Who's the Boss?: I Dream of Genealogy
ABC
February 20, 1990
Sitcom
DVD
B-

Clay Graham should've done a couple more drafts on this script.  While the story of Sam finding Tony's still alive grandfather, Anthony Romano (George O. Petrie, who has TV credits going back to The Honeymooners, but who last showed up on this blog as Mr. Williams in a final-season Three's Company episode), is touching, for some reason Graham decided to cut right to the chase and have the opening scene at the airport.*  And then when it turns out that this is the wrong Anthony Romano (with a daughter named Gina rather than Lina), Angela convinces Tony not to tell him and spoil their bonding, or Mr. Romano's with his "great-granddaughter."  Why couldn't Tony just explain and say that while they're not connected by blood, he's very fond of the old man and thinks of him as family anyway?  Instead, we have to wait for the final scene for that.

Mary Betten, who was Woman in Church on Mork & Mindy, plays Tony's mother's friend Mrs. Anna Camisa, presumably not the Anna Camisa who was pregnant a few seasons ago.  His mother's other friend, Mrs. Rose Laudicina, is played by Naomi Serotoff, who would return in the role.


*And this is one of those episodes that remind us of what innocent pre-9/11 times we were still in, with virtually no airport security.  But then wait till we get to the Ellen coming-out episode.

Whose Line Is It Anyway?: Episode 2.13

Whose Line Is It Anyway?: Episode 2.13
Channel Four
16 February 1990
Improv Game Show
DVD
B-

This is the episode where the Josie/Greg is through the roof!  So let's talk about other stuff first.  I would've gone with a B but some of the humour is a bit obscure or doesn't hit for other reasons.  (The rhymes in the American Musical are uniformly awful, although that's part of its charm.)  Still, this is a very nice line-up, with Tony teasing John in FATS, including some very definite Tony/John in the Michael Caine style for FATS, with John flustered by Tony's embrace and question "Why is it so different now?"  John interestingly sits out the American Musical, which is probably just as well, since his Catholic Odor Eaters commercial is well done.  There's no noticeable Josie/John, but she does hit Tony for his "gonorrhea" joke, and he's not the only one amused during their "up anything you like" exchange in Party Quirks.  He as Host invites her and Greg, separately, "upstairs" during the Party.

So about the Greg/Josie.  (And, yes, I know he's married in real life.)  Here's a quick run-down:

• They play a couple arguing over the bathroom in FATS, and she kicks things off with a pubic-hair-on-a-toothbrush joke!
• They talk and laugh and look at each other on and on, mostly but not entirely between games, even when she wins the episode and should be listening to Clive.
• They play a couple at and in the movies in the American Musical, magically going through the screen, where Tony plays a well-endowed dancing horse, but mostly they're focused on each other, holding hands even when they don't have to, and singing about how happy they are together.

The new relationship energy would settle down over time but the attraction would never die.  Here's Greg in a 2016 interview (https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2016/may/31/greg-proops-interview-whose-line-is-it-anyway):

Proops says the players are more comfortable with one another than ever, though he reserves a special fondness for Lawrence. “Josie is constantly surprising. She’s daffy. I know I can make a weird offer and she’ll take it up. And we have the sexual tension that crowds really want. If there’s any point at which one of us can hit on the other, we do it. The pervier, the better. We were on top of each other all last summer during the show.”

Roseanne: I'm Hungry

Roseanne: I'm Hungry
ABC
February 13, 1990
Sitcom
DVD
C+

In this Jacobson & Vela story, the ladies at Roseanne's beauty parlor pressure her to lose weight.  Therefore, Lori Tan Chinn, Elizabeth Franz, Debra Mooney, and Melora Walters return as Iris, Marsha, Mrs. Wellman, and Debbie respectively.  I was hoping Roseanne would resist the brainwashing, but oh well.  Note that we hear that she was thin when she was young, although later episodes will contradict this.

Who's the Boss?: Take Me Back to the Ballgame

Who's the Boss?: Take Me Back to the Ballgame
ABC
February 13, 1990
Sitcom
DVD
B-

This is the only WtB episode co-written by Sheldon Krasner and David Saling, who'd co-write one for Roseanne.  That may be why it feels a little uncharacteristic, especially for Season Six.  Not that it's bad but it, for instance, has no Tony/Angela.  However, it does contrast their attitudes about money, with her admitting he's right in the end.  And it does offer an early example of the Jonathan Says a Line or Two and Then Leaves the Room Syndrome (hereafter referred to as JSLTTLRS).

Zachary Bostrom, who was then playing the recast Kevin Brady (son of Greg) on The Bradys, appears as a (presumably) different Kevin.  In the tag, Tommy Lasorda appears sort of as himself.

The Bradys: The Brady 500

The Bradys: The Brady 500

CBS
February 9, 1990
Dramedy
DVD

D+

Talk about only for the completist!  The main problem here is the writing, by Sherwood and son Lloyd.  It's bad on several levels, including individual lines that no one could believably deliver, and I guess it's to the credit of the cast and director Bilson, who helmed four of the episodes of the final season of The Brady Bunch, that this isn't worse than it is.  Let's take it "kid" by "kid" because all six get an undercooked plot thread here:

1. Greg is still with Nora, still an obstetrician, but he starts thinking of changing specialties until a very convenient childbirth (his soon-to-be sister-in-law's nephew's) maybe (?) changes his mind;
2. Marcia, incredibly mis-recast as Leah Ayres (seriously, I kept forgetting who she was in the midst of all the Brady boys' wives and girlfriends), is still inexplicably with Wally, who lost another job, so they move in with her folks, but offer to move out but then stay and mostly react to other people's drama, and somewhere in here Wally gets a job we didn't even know he interviewed for;
3. Peter has been Flanderized into a lying slut, I think based on the fifth-season episode where his lookalike causes him to juggle two dates in one house, and the Variety pilot where he has dates with two girls who are friends, but he gets caught there, while here there are no consequences to him dating co-workers; and this is after he breaks off his fourth (!) engagement, this time to Christmas's Valerie, who's been mis-recast as poor Mary Cadorette and made into a heartless Yuppie;
4. Jan is still with Philip and they're having fun trying to conceive, after almost nine years of marriage, but she is pushing 30, so they're heartbroken about not having a baby, so they adopt a Korean girl who's afraid to hug her new grandmother (and Florence Henderson is so over the top, yes, even for her, that you can't really blame the little girl);
5. Bobby's thread gets more attention than most, as you might guess from the title, as we spend 20 minutes or 20 years following his racing career and everyone's attempts to see his big race, "The Riverdale 500" (an Archies reference?), and then he has a crippling accident, so the family reacts to that, and he recovers some but may have to spend the rest of his life in a wheelchair, but his previously never heard of girlfriend, Veejay Martha Quinn as Tracy Wagner, shows up and a scene or two later they get married;
6. And Cindy is a d.j.* who starts dating her boss, Gary Greenburg (Ken Michelman, who was Harker on M*A*S*H and doesn't seem to be old enough at 34 to be the father of a 15-year-old, let alone to play Cindy's "older man"), even though it's unclear at first (to her as well as the audience) what his marital status is (widowed) and even though it's supposed to be a big deal that he's Jewish, and yet their first date is to a hot dog stand.

(The two Brady grandsons are recast, too, but that matters less.)

The adults react to all these threads and don't at this point have their own subplots.  (Trooper that she is, 63-year-old Ann B. Davis makes with the slapstick now and again.)  Everything is so skimpily and off-handedly dealt with that VB Christmas starts to look like War and Peace in comparison.  And while the original series wasn't exactly realistic, it worked on its own level.  I watched this series at the time but felt no inclination to tape it.  And so I can't tell you if, to take the most infamous example, Marcia's one-episode alcoholism, is as bad as they say.  This is bad enough.

Moments I sort of liked:

• The Cindy/Gary chemistry isn't bad;
• Jan/Philip brings the sexy times;
• The Peter & Bobby bond is nice;
• and Dabbs Greer as the Minister reminisces, with helpful footage, about himself officiating over the chaos at Mike and Carol's wedding.

As always, many apologies, especially to stalwarts Jerry Houser (Wally) and Ron Kuhlman (Philip), that I'm limited in the number of my tags for these ginormous Brady casts.  John Wheeler, who played three different characters in the original series, shows up briefly as Wally's new boss, Joe Fletcher.  Hope Juber (AKA Hope Sherwood AKA Hope Schwartz) also had three BBunch roles and here is Erica Hopkins.  Stu Nahan, who's the Track Announcer, had been similarly typecast as Sportscaster #1 in The Harlem Globetrotters on Gilligan's Island.  Leonard R. Garner, Jr. returns as Bobby's pit-crew friend Howie and disappears from the episode soon after the accident.  Nick Toth and Barbara Mallory reprise their VB Christmas roles as Mr. and Mrs. Powell, the couple in the delivery room, giving arguably the worst performances in either production, especially her, no small accomplishment.

*This is ironic in light of last year's controversy over her hate talk, but then it's also ironic to hear Carol talk to Peter about his love life, considering Florence's vocal disapproval of one of Chris's four marriages.

Whose Line Is It Anyway?: Episode 2.12

Whose Line Is It Anyway?: Episode 2.12
Channel Four
9 February 1990
Improv Game Show
DVD
B-

Chris Langham* in his one WLIIA appearance works well with the comparative veterans, even John, both of them repeatedly going past the buzzer in FATS.  The episode is notable for a lot of Mike/Sandi, especially in their FATS, where a boss falls in love with his secretary.  There's also some John/Sandi, in Props and Party Quirks, with John as Society Wit.  (And, yes, I know they're both gay.)  There aren't really any stand-out games here, it's just generally entertaining.


*He would be found guilty in 2007 of downloading footage of child abuse, which he claimed was a way he was working through issues about his own abuse as a child.  Understandably, this was the end of his career as a performer, and to some degree, yes, it does overshadow this episode, particularly the couple jokes about, well, pedophilia.  As with Woody Allen's movies, I try to separate the creators from the creative work, but that's never 100% possible.  I do want to address it here and say that, whatever crimes he committed, he is entertaining in this episode.

Roseanne: Hair

Marsha

Roseanne: Hair
ABC
February 6, 1990
Sitcom
DVD
B-

This Vela & Jacobson story has some good moments but there's a central problem, one that it has in common with many episodes for the first two or three seasons.  Thanks to Crystal's recommendation, Roseanne gets a job sweeping up at a hair salon.  She likes the people but feels that the work itself is demeaning, even when she's promoted to "shampoo woman."  Dan for a change is insensitive, but he does redeem himself.  And I become more and more convinced that Sara Gilbert has a great comic delivery, beyond not only Lecy Goranson, but most actresses in early adolescence.  The thing is, as with the episodes set in the factory in the first season, I don't really care about Roseanne's job or coworkers.  I think it wouldn't be till she becomes a waitress working for Leon that the "work" side of Roseanne would come close to being as interesting as the "family" side.

Melora Walters returns as Debbie.  Debra Mooney makes her first appearance as Mrs. Wellman, yes, as in Roseanne's old workplace, while Elizabeth Frantz and Lori Tan Chinn debut as Marsha and Iris.

Who's the Boss?: Her Father's Daughter

Who's the Boss?: Her Father's Daughter
ABC
February 6, 1990
Sitcom
DVD
B-

While I like aspects of this episode, it feels like less than the sum of its parts.  We get insights into such relationships as Sam and Bonnie, Sam and Tony, Tony and Angela, and Mona and Jonathan, but it doesn't feel like it all jells.  Tony chaperones Sam's class during Winter Break in Florida, and Angela goes along to distract him.  Sam and Bonnie meet two guys that Sam realizes are sleazes and she tries to protect Bonnie.  (One of them, Tim, is played by Steve Burton, who was a nicer guy as Evie's boyfriend Chris on Out of This World.)  Meanwhile, Mona tries to help Jonathan ask girls out on the phone.  Ernie the water man is referred to but not seen.

Danza again co-directed with Gail L. Bergmann.

Roseanne: Born to Be Wild

Roseanne: Born to Be Wild
ABC
January 30, 1990
Sitcom
DVD
B

Steve Paymer's first of two Roseanne scripts has Dan and Roseanne's old buddy Ziggy (Jay O. Sanders in his first of two appearances) pay them a visit and make them reexamine their lives.  I don't really like Ziggy, but I don't think we're necessarily supposed to.  He's more of a catalyst, leading to a great scene towards the end, where Dan and Roseanne act out their adolescent courtship, although he's also doing Brando from The Wild One.  It's notable that, one, Jackie implies that she lost her virginity to Ziggy and, two, Darlene denies that she's anything like Roseanne.

Who's the Boss?: Micelli's Marauders

The 1986 movie Stewardess School, with
Cadorette, Sperber, and of course Judy Landers

Who's the Boss?: Micelli's Marauders
ABC
January 30, 1990
Sitcom
DVD
B-

Two of the friends that Angela met at the gym earlier in the season, Carol (Soap's Randee Heller) and Deb (Three's a Crowd's Mary Cadorette), return and are joined by another ABC sitcom veteran, Wendie Jo Sperber as Lori.  The "girls" are all on a volleyball team which Angela encourages Tony to coach.  He does but she feels neglected.  Then towards the end we find out that he took her for granted because he sees her as strong.  There's some weird flirting here, like when she says she wanted him to "whip" her, too, that is, whip her into shape, and when he says she's a babe when her shorts ride up.  (Adam I. Lapidus's other WtB script, "Allergic to Love," is also odd.)  Note that her friends see them as a couple, despite her disclaimers months ago.

This is the 1300th sitcom episode I've reviewed.  We will definitely hit 1400.

Whose Line Is It Anyway?: Episode 2.11

Whose Line Is It Anyway?: Episode 2.11
Channel Four
26 January 1990
Improv Game Show
DVD
B-

One-timer Arthur Smith does two historic things here: he picks Clive for World's Worst, and instead of feigning modesty like most contestants over a win, he's triumphant.  The main reason to watch this episode though is for the top-notch Musical Producers, with Sandi and Arthur as the Producers, and Josie and Mike as the various characters (some of them inanimate) in Bricks!  I also have a soft spot for Props, with Sandi the only one taking Mike's outrageousness in stride (Clive is thoroughly embarrassed again), and Josie looking offended when the audience groans at her "pieces of eight" pun.  There's Mike/Sandi and Mike/Josie, and a bit of Sandi/Josie at the end of Party Quirks.

Roseanne: An Officer and a Gentleman

Roseanne: An Officer and a Gentleman
ABC
January 23, 1990
Sitcom
DVD
B

Jacobson & Vela wrote this story where Roseanne goes to see her father in the hospital and Jackie helps out with Dan, the kids, and the house.  At first, she's in over her head, but she soon adapts and becomes "the perfect housewife," with a little Leave It to Beaver parody thrown in.  There were moments when I was uneasy, worrying that this was going to get too backlashy, with "poor single Jackie envying her sister's life," but it's more an exploration of possibilities.  Similarly, it is disquietening to see Jackie and Dan go beyond befriending each other, really for the first time, to admitting they had crushes on each other as teenagers.  And yet, I'm glad this episode takes some risks.  It resulted from a clash between Barr and producer Matt Williams, but I think as a story it had to happen.  Such later stories as Dan beating up Jackie's abusive boyfriend couldn't have taken place if this hadn't first.

Who's the Boss?: Mona and Walter and Sam and Eric

Who's the Boss?: Mona and Walter and Sam and Eric
ABC
January 23, 1990
Sitcom
DVD
B-

Braunstein & Perlow should've done another couple drafts on this story to, one, improve Jonathan's dialogue, two, explain why Mona is extra flirty with Tony, and three, either make Sam and her new boyfriend Eric not "in love" or set him up as a regular character.  Still, I like the basic premise of setting up Mona with Eric's grandfather, Walter Nordstrom, who turns out to have been left at the altar by Mona 40 years ago.

Whose Line Is It Anyway?: Episode 2.10

Whose Line Is It Anyway?: Episode 2.10
Channel Four
19 January 1990
Improv Game Show
DVD
B-

The two main games to watch here are the American Musical, which has three pretty good songs and absolutely no logic (at least the one with Neil Mullarkey had some closure), and of course the Banking Rap where Tony manages to embarrass himself, his fellow contestants, Clive (a lot), and probably the studio audience.  Lee Simpson, another Comedy Store Player, makes his only appearance on the show.

Who's the Boss?: Dear Landlord

Who's the Boss?: Dear Landlord
ABC
January 16, 1990
Sitcom
DVD
C

Daniel Palladino, who usually does a better job, contributed this story that starts out very well and then goes somewhat off the rails.  Ernie has gossip about the Harpers, gossip that contradicts both Season Five and Season Seven, but that's OK within the episode itself.  The Harpers have split up and their house is for sale.  Angela agrees to buy it and rent it out, with Tony managing it.  The two of them flirt so much about this that Ernie gets sweaty!

Various inappropriate people (of which we just see three) want to rent the house, but then an adorable little old man named Don Lester (played by David Sage, who would be a Priest on Roseanne) comes by and he's willing to pay six months in advance.  Unfortunately, after Angela leaves on a business trip, a flaky but pretty actress named Michelle comes by and Tony ends up renting to her.  She has Tony do lots of favors for her and her rent check (for $250 less than the original amount) bounces, yet we're supposed to think Angela's main objection is that she's jealous that Tony's charmed by a younger woman.  (Ironically or not, Michelle is played by an actress who's only a couple years younger than Judith Light.)  In the end, Angela gives Michelle money to stay in a hotel while looking for an apartment in New York, which isn't much of a "win" for Angela.  Still, I guess this is setting up the gut-puncher of a season-closer a few months away.

Whose Line Is It Anyway?: Episode 2.9

Whose Line Is It Anyway?: Episode 2.9
Channel Four
12 January 1990
Improv Game Show
DVD
C

I can't think of any reason to recommend this episode to anyone except the completist, unless you want to hear Jonathan complain about being upstaged by John, when that should come as little surprise on their second episode together.

Roseanne: One for the Road

Roseanne: One for the Road
ABC
January 9, 1990
Sitcom
DVD
B-

While Dan, Roseanne, Jackie, and D.J. are visiting  R & J's parents, Becky and her friend Dana Hudson (Lindsay Fisher, who would play this character twice more, despite Dana's mother forbidding her return) get drunk in the living room.  Something feels off about this episode, or maybe I'm getting tired of Becky being both a problem child and "the good girl," as if the writers didn't have a clear fix on her.  It's still a pretty good episode, and I like how Darlene is both sympathetic and teasing, but there were moments when I would've rather have seen what was going on at the grandparents'.

Dana's mother Karen is played by DeeDee Rescher, who was DeeDee the Waitress late in the Three's Company run.

Who's the Boss?: Tony Kills

Mischievous priest

Who's the Boss?: Tony Kills
ABC
January 9, 1990
Sitcom
DVD
C+

Clay Graham wrote this story which is told partly with the framing device of Tony's first Confession in three years, to a priest in the old neighborhood, Father Marconi (Tom Troupe, who would return twice more in the role).  Tony was jealous of Fred Hartwell flirting with Angela and feels guilty that Fred dropped dead during a tennis match.  Fred's twin brother Ed shows up and guilts Tony into several favors, until Ed flirts with Angela.  Tony challenges Ed to a tennis match but worries that his anger at Ed will cause this twin to die, too.  Jeffrey Tambor plays both Hartwells and is as annoying as ever, which may be intentional but is nonetheless still annoying.  Watch this one for Tony's description to Father Marconi of his feelings for Angela and for T & A's flirtation in the tag.

Whose Line Is It Anyway?: Episode 2.8

Whose Line Is It Anyway?: Episode 2.8
Channel Four
5 January 1990
Improv Game Show
DVD
C+

Josie's fellow Comedy Store Player (and sometime boyfriend) Neil Mullarkey makes his only appearance on this episode where Ryan returns and meets Mike and Josie.  Nothing particularly great or bad here, but if I had to pick a favorite it would be Josie's Kurt Weill Song Styles about a cheese grater.

Roseanne: Chicken Hearts

Roseanne: Chicken Hearts
ABC
January 2, 1990
Sitcom
DVD
B

Joss Whedon wrote this story where, after having heard about Roseanne's job at a fast food chicken place, we finally see it, her teenage boss, and her teenage coworkers.  The boss, Brian, wants her to work weekends, so she tries to win him over by inviting him over for dinner and having Dan help him with his Auto Shop homework.  As when she tried to placate Booker's sadistic replacement, it doesn't work out.  After Brian fires her, Dan again comforts her that she'll find a better job.  This is the episode where we find out that "D.J." stands for David Jacob, rather than Dan, Jr. as you might expect.

Justin Dana, who played Bobby on What's Happening!!, is Matthew here.  Sonia Curtis would return as Tina.

Who's the Boss?: Sam Accelerates

Mike Tyson in the tag

Who's the Boss?: Sam Accelerates
ABC
January 2, 1990
Sitcom
DVD
B

Albrecht & Keller wrote this story where Sam has a chance to accelerate and graduate a year early, i.e. the upcoming June.  However, we learn that she (and probably Jonathan) witnessed Tony and Angela "making out" in Jamaica.  After she sees Angela kissed by a Howdy-Doody-looking man named Dwayne (Jeffrey Alan Chandler, who'd be Cookie Man on Ellen), she wants Angela to clarify "your intentions towards my father."  Angela does her best to explain.  Sam decides that she doesn't want to go off to college early and leave her father alone.  They have a good talk about it.

And, yes, welcome to the '90s.  It's going to be another odd journey.

Watching TV in the 1980s, and Watching 1980s TV

At the start of the '80s, I was almost 12, and a decade later I was almost 22.  Beyond that, I went from being almost done with elementary school to being a college drop-out, and a newlywed.  And, although the trajectory was not as dramatic as the rise of my TV-viewing in the '70s, it is true that I watched less often and more selectively in '89 than '80.  I still watched sitcoms, I still preferred ABC, but now a little news would be mixed in, and cable had started to have an impact on my viewing.

It was easy then and is easy now to dismiss the '80s as shallow and materialistic, but there were other currents going on.  The legacy of the '60s still had an impact, and the '70s started to be reassessed.  Some of this was reflected on television.  And the nature of television's relationship to itself was starting to morph, from Sherwood Schwartz tributes on ALF and Day by Day to the proto-hipster vibe on Bosom Buddies and the upending and yet embracing of family sitcom tropes on Roseanne.  And, yes, the impact of the remote was being felt more than in previous decades, so that a viewer could him/herself help with the fragmentation of the viewing experience.

Watching these shows again is not the same close-to-the-bone nostalgia I felt for my '70s shows.  Perhaps it's the difference between childhood and adolescence, and how I feel about each.  In any case, here's a chronological list of what I most and least enjoyed on this reviewing:

1. Mork & Mindy: A Mommy for Mindy, January 3, 1980, B+
2. Three's Company: Larry Loves Janet, January 8, 1980, B+
3. Bosom Buddies: Kip Quits, February 26, 1981, B+
4. Bosom Buddies: The Show Must Go On, March 26, 1981, B+
5. Mork & Mindy: Reflections and Regrets, May 14, 1981, B+
6. Bosom Buddies: Kip Off the Old Block, February 11, 1982, B+
7. The Concert in Central Park, February 21, 1982, B+
8. Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers: You Got Lucky, Song released October 22, 1982, B+
9. M*A*S*H: Goodbye, Farewell, and Amen, February 28, 1983, A-
10. Paul McCartney & Michael Jackson: Say Say Say, Song released October 3, 1983
11. Three's Company: She Loves Me, She Loves Me Not, October 4, 1983, B+
12. Weird Al Yankovic: I Lost on Jeopardy, Song released June 4, 1984, B+
13. Who's the Boss?: Dinner for Two, November 20, 1984, B+
14. Who's the Boss?: Requiem, December 18, 1984, B+
15. Who's the Boss?: Protecting the President, January 22, 1985, B+
16. Who's the Boss?: Angela's Ex, Part 1, February 5, 1985, A-
17. Who's the Boss?: It Happened One Summer, Part 1, September 24, 1985, B+
18. Who's the Boss?: It Happened One Summer, Part 2, October 1, 1985, B+
19. Who's the Boss?: Custody, Part 2, November 12, 1985, B+
20. Blackadder II: Bells, 9 January 1986, B+
21. Who's the Boss?: Jonathan Plays Cupid, February 11, 1986, A-
22. Who's the Boss?: Tony for President, March 4, 1986, B+
23. Who's the Boss?: The Anniversary Show, May 6, 1986, B+
24. Who's the Boss?: Angela Gets Fired, Part 2, September 30, 1986, B+
25. Who's the Boss?: Wedding Bells?, November 11, 1986, B+
26. Who's the Boss?: Marie's Secret, January 20, 1987, B+
27. Who's the Boss?: Hit the Road, Chad, February 3, 1987, B+
28. Who's the Boss?: The Proposal, February 17, 1987, B+
29. Who's the Boss?: Frankie and Tony Are Lovers, September 22, 1987, B+
30. Who's the Boss?: Prom Night II, May 3, 1988, B+
31. Who's the Boss?: Sleep Talk, Sweet Talk, May 10, 1988, B+
32. Who's the Boss?: Yankee-Doodle Micelli, November 22, 1988, B+
33. Roseanne: Becky's Choice, February 28, 1989, B+
34. Roseanne: Death and Stuff, April 11, 1989, B+
35. Roseanne: Dear Mom and Dad, April 18, 1989, B+
36. Who's the Boss?: In Search of Tony, September 19, 1989, B+
37. Roseanne: Guilt by Disassociation, September 26, 1989
38. Whose Line Is It Anyway?: Episode 2.7, 29 December 1989

(Note that there are no F+s, D-s, or D's for the '80s, unlike the '70s.)

1. Three's Company: The Love Lesson, January 22, 1980, D+
2. Three's Company: Jack's Bad Boy, February 12, 1980, D+
3. Three's Company: Jack's Other Mother, January 20, 1981, D+
4. Soap: Episode 86, March 23, 1981, D+
5. Soap: Episode 89, April 20, 1981, D+
6. Alice in Wonderland, Part 1, December 9, 1985, D+
7. Night Court: Fire, November 2, 1988, D+

Word of Mouth with Eric Burns

This episode

Word of Mouth with Eric Burns
Movietime
Late December 1989
Talk Show
VHS
B-

This "best of" covers the nine months of the show, not every episode, but quite a few.  Ellerbee is tagged for the discussion of her Maxwell House commercial.  Burns concludes with a hope that WoM can find another home, but as far as I know it didn't.  Pity, since it would've been interesting to hear the panel react to the '90s.

As for the '80s, this probably isn't the last of my shows from that decade, since the '70s keep popping up.  But this is as good a place as any to get ready for another decade summary....

Word of Mouth with Eric Burns

Almost 20 years after this episode

Word of Mouth with Eric Burns
Movietime
December 14, 1989
Talk Show
VHS
B

I'm guessing since Burns ended the '80s look-back episode with a promise to look ahead at the '90s the next time, that this aired a week after the one from December 7th.  (Or maybe that's when these were taped.  No matter.)  In any case, they get some things right about the '90s, like the "nerding of America" and the increasing fragmentation of the television audience with the continuing impact of cable, and some things wrong, like the "moralistic" attitudes of computer nerds and, thank goodness, the marketing of videotapes with a very short shelf life.  This is the "next to last" episode, with the compilation coming up....

Word of Mouth with Eric Burns

From this episode!

Word of Mouth with Eric Burns
Movietime
December 7, 1989
Talk Show
VHS
B

Merrill Markoe uploaded this to her Youtube channel, and it has the airdate, so I can be more precise than usual.  (Plus one of the panelists points out that it's after the Thanksgiving episode.)  Having five rather than four people seems to make for a livelier discussion, or maybe the general topic of "The Eighties" helps.  Note that Schickel says that in a decade of "greased pigs," Donald Trump was "the greasiest and the piggiest."  And I used to quote Markoe's line about Madonna, "She's been blonde, she's been brunette...," for years afterwards.

Word of Mouth with Eric Burns

Word of Mouth with Eric Burns
Movietime
Early December 1989
Talk Show
VHS
B-

If there's any doubt that '89 was another time, consider the discussion of Tip O'Neill's commercials for Clarion Hotel.  I mean, it seems pretty mild compared to Bob Dole hawking Viagra.  Note that in the poll for the ten men that teenagers admire most, #1 is Michael Jordan, with Reagan and Trump just behind.  Merrill's Corner briefly displays plastic daggers that were marketed as party favors for children over 3.