Roseanne: Pampered to a Pulp

Roseanne: Pampered to a Pulp
ABC
October 22, 1996
Sitcom
DVD
D-

The shark ate well that night.  Roseanne and Jackie go to a spa and not only are there zero laughs but it's unpleasant to watch the two sisters get various treatments.  Even more than with Ellen and Paige on the "spa" episode of Ellen, I don't see why they can't just leave.  They're physically tormented and verbally abused.  At one point, a strict German woman makes what I swear is a Nazi joke that the laugh track doesn't get.  (She tells them it's time to go to the showers.)  I seriously considered an F+, but, while not exactly entertaining, it was sort of nice to see two Zappa children: Moon Unit and Ahmet (who had previously played Mark's friend Royal).  Dan and the kids are all absent here, which also does not bode well.

Yoga Instructor Jonathan Emerson was a Lucky Customer on Ellen a couple years earlier.  Ken Kells has his third Roseanne role, as Ken.  Colleen Camp's final Roseanne role is as Jill.  And Kathleen Freeman, who has a ton of credits going back to the dawn of television, here plays a Seaweed Attendant (possibly the German) and would soon return as Edna.  Sadly, this is Laurie Metcalf's 200th episode.