Roseanne: Couch Potatoes

Roseanne: Couch Potatoes
ABC
May 17, 1995
Sitcom
DVD
C+

This Eric Gilliland story is odd, especially when the tag seems to offer a lesson that the rest of the episode, and indeed future episodes, ignore.  Roseanne is two months away from giving birth and has entered a "nesting phase," which means she wants to upgrade furniture and the family's viewing habits, especially after they become a Nielsen family.  The Flanderization of not just Mark but most of the family as unfunny idiots is creeping in here, until that final scene, where Dan and Roseanne have a conversation much like they used to, realistic and sweet and funny.

Roseanne watches a Beverly Hillbillies marathon (and, no, Buddy Ebsen would not have been 105; he would've been 87) and realizes that they will always be "white trash" and they shouldn't try to pretend to be anything else.  When she and Dan talk about what the Clampetts do with their money, it casts an odd light on Season Nine, since the Conners, Roseanne especially, will not exactly stay down-to-earth.  The thing is, if Gilliland were really taking the "to thine own self be true" message to heart, he wouldn't have waited till this last scene to make characters be in character, unless the irony is intentional. Meanwhile, Fred and Jackie, after a mostly silent dinner, agree that it's really over between them.