Chicken Wing

How long do you think before we'll get an announcement about a second season?

Lecy only ever appeared sporadically in season 8, with Sarah Chalke stepping in for the episodes where Becky's absence would have made no sense (the family trip to Disney World and Darlene's wedding). It was believed that the 8th season would be the last one, so they found a way to work around Lecy's schedule to have her reprise the role for a last hurrah. But then the show got picked up for a ninth season, but Lecy was either not willing or not able to come back again. This is also why Dan is written out for much of the first half of season 9 and a few episodes in the latter half -- thinking the show would end after season 8, John Goodman signed on to movie projects.

The poster said she mentioned Andy in the grace. Andy was not mentioned in the episodes at all.

I'm hoping they have D.J. randomly dart out of the room in a panic, just for old times' sake.

I think she said it was Geena (D.J.'s wife) who is still overseas.

That's why I hope they delve into the circumstances and timing of Mark's death and how Becky's life changed after that. There's a lot of potential to explore what that type of life trajectory does to a person. Becky was the one they always felt was college-bound, who had the brains and the drive to get out of this town -- which she did, but because she dropped out of high school at 17 to elope. After that, her original goals just fell completely by the wayside. She was shown doing schoolwork for community college for a few episodes, went to work with words on her butt and moved into a trailer. Not exactly what people envisioned for Becky when she was an honor student, that's for sure. Her whole life was changed by her relationship with Mark, was defined by Mark, for better or worse. And then he died. Then what? What did her life become about then?

I really hope this baby/surrogate thing doesn't go on for long, my brain won't be able to take the unrealistic nonsensicalness of every single thing they're doing..

Well, we're only two episodes in. I'm fine with them not having mentioned Andy just yet. They haven't mentioned a lot of crucial people just yet either (David, Bev, Crystal) but we know they'll be appearing later. I will get annoyed though if we get through the whole nine episodes and they still don't mention Andy, and I'll be really annoyed if they pull a full retcon and act like Jackie never had him at all.

I'm sure she made similar warnings to everyone.

Dang, how the hell did that happen? I didn't know scripted shows even got ratings like that anymore.

During the show, Bev accidentally came out as a lesbian during a Thanksgiving episode. In the series finale, everything was revealed to be a topsy-turvy version of Roseanne Conner's "real" life for a book she was writing and in that "real" life Jackie was the one who was a lesbian. But with the revival, it seems they've made the finale reveal part of the book and so everything that happened on the show was her real life. Jackie is straight, Bev was gay, Darlene married David and Becky married Mark.

This is the same child, Harris Conner-Healy. They just decided to de-age her so she'd be teenaged now, because I guess they thought it was more interesting to watch Darlene parent a teenager. A typical full-season of a show, even in its first season, is 22 episodes. However, that's assuming it began at the start of the fall season, and actually got picked up for the full season. Midseason replacement shows can get an order of 13 episodes, or like this one as few as 9. (I recall the first season of Grey's Anatomy, which premiered the same week -- same day, actually -- in 2005, also had only nine episodes.)

I like the revival so far. I'm not sure which of these first two episodes was better, though the writing/acting in the first one was noticeably more stilted and forced. My thoughts overall: So, as far as the original series finale reveal that Roseanne was writing a book about her life and everything we saw was actually a fictionalized version of the real Conner family -- looks like they've made that reveal in itself part of the book. So everything that we saw happen, really happened that way. Fine with me. Roseanne and Jackie fighting over the election: I wholeheartedly buy into the Average Joe from Lanford being a Trump voter, but I'm having the most difficult time wrapping my head around Roseanne Conner being one of them, no matter what kind of financial or economic situation the family was in, given what we know, or at least knew, about her and her ideals. Yeah, people change, circumstances change, and we haven't seen these characters for 20 years, yeah yeah yeah, but I can't let go of the idea that this is less influenced by blue-collar reality than Roseanne Barr's real-life politics, and so it just rings too artificial and meta to me. I do hope the politics talk is only confined to that first episode. As far as where the characters are now: That all rang true. Roseanne and Dan are exactly where you'd expect them to be -- right in the same place, living in the same house, doing the exact same things and struggling to get by the exact same way they always have. Because that's just life. Darlene was the unexpected star of the family, the first one to go to college, was destined for great things -- and maybe she did do some great things over the years, but in the end she was subject to job loss and economic uncertainty, to the point of having to move back home with her two minor children, like anyone else. Becky working as a waitress is actually pretty much where her destiny left off when the original series ended. After running off with Mark, it was clear that she wasn't really going places. (When did Lecy's voice get so deep?) I can also totally buy her signing on to be a surrogate, especially if she's being paid $50K, because it's an opportunity to pull herself out of the financial doldrums and achieve some goals -- and I can see her doing this without really thinking through the complications and ramifications. And is it really being a surrogate when you're using your own eggs to carry your own biological child? Isn't that just agreeing to conceive a child and then letting someone else adopt it? Also, why would you want to use "donor" eggs from a 43-year-old woman? It'd be fine with Becky just being the one to carry a baby, but having it be with her eggs and therefore her biological child just added an unnecessary layer of unrealistic that will bug the crap out of me until this whole surrogacy idea is resolved. Absent characters: David. I can't wait for Galecki's episode, whenever it is, because I would love to know why David and Darlene split up and what happened to him. Mark (adult Mark) being deceased was pretty much the only acceptable option with Glenn Quinn having died as well, but I want more details on when and how and what Becky's life turned into between then and now. I think I read an article where they said Mark's death will be addressed in one of these episodes, so that's good. Jerry and Andy. Glad for a throwaway line about Jerry's whereabouts; have no need for an appearance or even another mention about him. Just an acknowledgement of the character's existence is good enough for me, just because I hate when shows retcon away their own continuity. And so I hope they do eventually mention Andy, though again, as with Jerry, I could care less about an appearance. The new kids: Harris. You know how parents wish for their child to grow up and have a kid that tortures them the same way that they themselves did? Harris is Roseanne and Dan's revenge on Darlene. I think the actress was perfectly cast and I'm liking her so far. Little Mark is a good addition, and I loved the second episode for his storyline. I loved that Dan was concerned about his dress choices not because he's old fashioned or macho or that he himself has a problem with it, but because he (not unrealistically) worries that his grandson will be bullied by his classmates, because one reality that has never changed from one generation to the next is that kids will never run out of ways or reasons to pick on other kids and they can be shockingly cruel. Mark's conversation with Darlene was great; she's a great mother, and he seems like a very bright and perceptive kid. D.J.'s daughter Mary. Well, we didn't see or hear much from her, so I can't really form an opinion yet. Very cool to give D.J. a biracial child, and a throwback to "White Men Can't Kiss" -- and the ultimate throwback, since it appears that the girl in question from the episode is his wife now (Gina). Also realistic that D.J. would end up joining the military. Not necessarily because D.J. specifically was military-bound when we last saw him, but realistic in terms of the options available for kids like him growing up in towns like that with only so many options on what to do next. Surprised by some comments here questioning basic Roseanne character/plot details. It honestly never occurred to me that people who didn't watch the show originally and/or barely remembered the characters or how they connected would even care to watch this. Why watch a revival of a show you don't remember? There's always Wikipedia. All in all I'm really happy with the revival and I'm already counting down to next Tuesday. Shame we only get nine episodes. I feel like that's not nearly enough time to cover everything that I think I want them to cover, and I don't even know what that all is. I just know I want more. More Conners!

Yes. Yes, it would. Oh, the gaping plotholes you create when you scramble to invent a backstory after the fact...

This I can agree with. Now, if the kid had just been skulking around in front of the house and someone called the police to report a suspicious figure loitering on the property? Something like that would definitely have been impacted by whether the kid were white or black. But "breaking into" a house is a suspicious activity no matter what you look like. I don't have issue with someone calling the police to report what looked like a kid breaking into a house, though I wonder who it was that called. If it was a neighbor, did they not get a glimpse of his face or do they just not know what their own neighbors look like? Now, the cop's actions upon arriving and encountering the kid, well, that's another story. There, I do believe the situation would have gone differently with a white kid doing X, Y and Z versus a black kid doing the exact same X, Y and Z.

In this and every other situation like this that we see on the news, until or unless you see a weapon, there is no threat and therefore no justification to use deadly force. You can't just shoot someone on sight because you think they might have a gun. That's unreasonable. And the argument still holds that, if it were a white kid doing the exact same things, we can bet the cop wouldn't have fired. Sad but true. Not every police encounter with a black youth ends up this way, obviously. For every situation like this kid's, there are scores more black youths and adults who have scenarios that end no differently than that of their white counterpart with no one being hurt or even arrested or treated poorly in any way. There are tons of good outcomes. But the difference between the black youth and the white youth is that the black youth does not have the luxury of assuming that their encounter will end with the good outcome the way their white friend probably does, does not have the luxury of not having to be trained and prepared from childhood to know how to interact with police in a way their white friend doesn't. That's privilege.

Granted I haven't been to the police academy lately, but what procedure says the cops have the right to shoot a suspect just for being a suspect? If they suspected he was breaking in, arrest him and bring him in. There was simply no reason to shoot him. The kid wasn't doing anything threatening to them or anyone else. He didn't have a weapon, he wasn't brandishing a weapon. So the cop thought the kid might have a weapon when he was reaching for his pocket. Unless he actually pulled out a weapon, there's no reason to fire. That cop shot him because he panicked and overreacted, and a cop so easily spooked that way should not be out on the beat with a gun. You can't just go shooting people because you get spooked. And you have to ask, why? Why was the cop so freaked out by a kid who had yet to do anything or act threatening in any way that he reacted to the mere sight of him reaching into his pocket by instantly shooting him in the neck? The idea that the same thing would have happened if it had been a white kid caught breaking into his own house in an affluent neighborhood is disingenuous. That kid may not have been believed either when he proclaimed that it was his own house, but I can also say with near certainty that the police would have simply cuffed him and held him in the backseat of the police cruiser while they called his contacts or checked with neighbors to verify his story. And when that white kid insisted on calling his parents and reached into his pocket for his phone, the cops would have at the most ordered him to put his hands up where they can see them and left it at that. It would not have been that cop's split second inclination to shoot him. This is the sad reality. This is why we have to give our kids "The Talk." Because even though the cops have no right to shoot you for no reason, sometimes they will. Sometimes there will be that cop who is biased enough to assume the worst of you even when you haven't done anything. Sometimes there will be that cop who gets spooked so easily that any sudden movement on your part will be interpreted as an attempt to threaten them and their gut reaction is to shoot. And the sad reality is that this reaction is much more likely to occur with black and brown suspects than white suspects. We know this to be true because the history and data tell us so. And so you have to give your kid "The Talk" and explain why you must be polite to the police, and do not make any sudden moves or try to run away from them, and keep your hands up in the air at all times, and understand that you will not be viewed the same way or held to the same standard as your white friend standing next to you. The cops will not react to you both the same way. This is our sad reality. It should not be this way. A kid, or anyone, should not have to be cognizant of every move they make and breath they take for fear that the police will overreact and shoot you. And a police officer should not translate his or her biases, implicit or not, into actions this way. But they do. And it's a very, very sad commentary that the kid in this episode "should have known" to not make any sudden moves and to keep his hands up or else the officer of the law would shoot him in his own living room for absolutely nothing. Side story: A couple years ago, my cousin, who is black, was having an argument with his (white) girlfriend in the parking lot of her apartment building, and the neighbors called the police when it got loud and disruptive. They didn't politely question him nor did he have the chance to peacefully go with them to talk. They had him face down on the ground in handcuffs. He wasn't doing anything to the girlfriend, the neighbors or the cops. No one was hurt and nothing came of the encounter, but none of us were fool enough to believe he would have been treated the same way if he was the girl's white boyfriend.

I'm not crying. YOU'RE crying.

Let's see, timeline: Jack was born in 1969 -- they said so in his 30th birthday episode in season one. I think Elliot was about 12 when he showed up in 2001, meaning Jack was about 20 when he was born. The last time we saw Elliot was in season 8 when the gang accompanied him to visit UCLA, so he was toward the end of his high school years and would be about 28, 29 now. I have no idea how old Skip is supposed to be. I feel like Elliot is too young to have a kid that old, but as long as Skip is younger than 11 -- because Elliot definitely did not have a kid when he was still in high school 11 years ago -- I guess it's not entirely outside the realm of logic. Say he married Emma in college and got pregnant right away. #overthinking That said, I echo TheOtherOne's sentiments that Elliot sending his kid to a gay conversion camp is uber depressing. And I'm kind of offended on Michael Angarano's behalf that he didn't get applause when he appeared, but I suspect the audience may not have realized it was the same actor. Cartoonishly exaggerated Texas garb and facial hair will do that.

Based on the preview for next week it appears he cast a spell to make them switch bodies.

I think it was said a long ways back that the work hookups and relationships were about the only realistic thing about this show, since doctors and residents pretty much live in the hospital and never have a chance to meet anyone else. I would imagine, though, that in a hospital with literally hundreds of employees, people aren't playing hot potato with the same six or seven partners.

I guess with all the hubbub of getting people out of the building to safety the firefighters seemed to have overlooked the need to, I don't know, maybe get to the fire and try to put the damn thing out. Fortunately for everyone, they were dealing with one of those rare Contrivance Fires that extinguish themselves after a fixed period of time.

I've never noticed Jesse Williams to have a lisp. Ellen Pompeo had a fairly noticeable one in the early seasons; I don't know if it's lessened over the years or if I've just tuned it out. Some people say they still hear it. Kelly McCreary has a very obvious lisp.

I really don't know why there was confusion about that. Maggie's mother. "Or was it when Maggie -- who was constantly there for Meredith and bratty Amelia -- needed comfort after her mother passed?"

I desperately want Minnick to walk off a cliff, but I'll hold off on assuming we won't see her again. But if there is any good in this world, Riggs ran her over as he tore out of the parking lot.