ABC
January 5, 1993
Sitcom
DVD
B+
When the "lighter" thread is about DJ getting in trouble for taking Darlene & David's "sick" comic to school, then it's fair to say that, at roughly the midpoint of the series, we're heading into territory that few or no family sitcoms had ever explored before. Dan goes to talk to DJ's principal, Cecil Alexander (Begley), thinking DJ has taken one of Dan's issues of Playboy and is at first relieved it's just a comic. (Note that we find out in this episode that the girls' bathroom also connects to DJ's room, which I hadn't been clear on before.)
Meanwhile, Fisher is stressed about his unemployment and he (offscreen) "beats the crap out of Jackie." Since viewers by now are very fond of Jackie, we're as upset as Roseanne, especially when Jackie tries to defend Fisher. When Dan hears, he goes over and (again offscreen) apparently beats the crap out of Fisher. Two policemen show up quickly to arrest him, although small town that this is, one of them is friends with Dan. In a sight gag closing this first of two parts, Principal Alexander's car pulls up next to the police car.
Again, Roseanne pulls off very difficult tonal shifts, so that the episode made me laugh and cry, without feeling forced. Even in this bleak time, there are still jokes, including Darlene mocking Becky's butt in absentia.
Wings Hauser and Mara Hobel return as Ty Tilden and his daughter Charlotte, but there's no sign of Molly. Doug Fieger makes another appearance as Dan's poker buddy Nick (essentially the guy in the "DJ spot," who can have his back to the audience most of the scene). Jeremy Roberts, who's Jay, would return. Secretary Colleen Camp would be back in two other roles. I don't have Brice Beckham in anything else, but I should point out that he plays one of the two teen guys Charlotte has a crush on and he's best known as Wesley on Mr. Belvedere.
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