Ellen: Thirty Kilo Man, Part 2

Note that Dan and Ellen have exactly the same taste in clothes.

Ellen: Thirty Kilo Man, Part 2
ABC
May 17, 1995
Sitcom
DVD
B

In this lesser but still fun second part, this time written by Maria Semple, Ellen finds out that Dan (William Ragsdale) is actually importing pizza supplies.  Her parents have a great little scene where they not only ship "Danellen" (Paige's term) as hard as I do, but they deal with "the Man," i.e. police, who turns out to be Jack (Patrick Warburton again).  Dan forgives Ellen for being suspicious and they enter three weeks of NRE (new relationship energy, although that term isn't used).  Paige resents Ellen blowing her off to be with Dan.  Meanwhile, Dan helps Adam see how attractive Audrey is and soon A/A is hotter than ever.  How this all works out, including the role Joe plays in it, is interesting to see. The final moments, where Ellen says she's going to be in a movie (1996's Mr. Wrong I assume) and Paige says she's going to be a Broadway star, is fourth-wall-breaking.  Ellen says Dan will be back in a week, but in fact two very significant years would pass before his return.

Noelle Hannibal is again an uncredited Customer, and Dean Fortunato is again a Nameless Man.

Ellen in Season Two ranges from C to B+, almost half of those as B-s, so it's not surprising that the average is B- like Season One, although a high B- this time.  This cast seems better defined than "These Friends of Mine," and when the show works, it works well.  This was at a time when I was watching less TV (I'd gone back to college after the divorce), but I still caught my Wednesday night funny ladies when I could.  I don't know if at the time I realized that Ellen was finding itself and Roseanne was slowly losing itself, but it seems obvious now.  I don't remember much about Season Three of Ellen specifically, except that I think the core cast was kept intact, for now....