Roseanne: Valentine's Day

Roseanne: Valentine's Day
ABC
February 12, 1991
Sitcom
DVD
B

There are a lot of things going on in this episode, some of more significance in retrospect than at the time:

• We meet Roseanne's equally sarcastic and heavy co-worker Bonnie Watkins (played by Bonnie Sheridan of Delaney & Bonnie, and, yes, we'll hear her sing later), as well as their new manager Leon Carp (the incomparable Martin Mull).  Finally, she'll be at a workplace that can hold its own with the family scenes!
• The story, written by Bob Myer, has two main plots about, yes, Valentine's Day.  In the less interesting one, Dan is too embarrassed to buy Roseanne lingerie, although he tries.  (Arnie shows up in the store, presumably shopping for a gift for Nancy.)
• The other thread is again one that is somewhat like a Brady plot, with the tomboy middle girl trying to impress an older boy, only to have him interested in her more confident older sister.  The difference here is that, rather than Jan simply putting on a dress and having the boy immediately see her as no longer "a guy," it seems to be physically and emotionally painful, but also very funny, for Darlene to try to femme it up.  (The tag has bloopers of Barr cracking up at Gilbert.)
• That Gilbert would much later come out as a lesbian, give this an added subtext.
• Rather than cattily saying something like Marcia's "Don't blame me if boys don't find you attractive," Becky does genuinely try to be a good older sister, including in some scenes that are described rather than shown.
• Roseanne's meddling does not turn out as well as Carol Brady's.

The boy that Darlene likes that likes Becky is Barry Parker (Tristan Tait, who would return later that season).  Molly David, who's the Woman in the Coffee Shop, would be a Sweet Old Woman on Ellen.  And, yes, that's 15-year-old Tobey Maguire as Jeff.