S04.E03: Sober Sex, Plastic Silverware, and Losing My Religion

[bobalina]

Rene Rosado( Emilio) has a super busy schedule now and may not be available for the Connors,

[qtpye]

On 10/7/2021 at 6:38 PM, iMonrey said:

Regardless of whether or not Mark found Louise's first wedding dress appropriate, Katey Sagal still looks incredible. 

I'm just not feeling this season so far, though. It just doesn't feel funny enough.

I hate to say this, because I still like the character, but Alicia Goranson is not a very good actress. There is something stiffly performative about her line readings, like she's projecting on stage or something and playing to the back of the house. She is acting. It shows. I never noticed it in the original show, she seemed more natural as a teenager. Not sure what the problem is now.

 

On 10/7/2021 at 8:02 PM, gesundheit said:

I am deeply un-Ethiopian and it sounded awesome to me!

Agreed on the first point, I haven't even been chuckling. In a way, the reboot almost made it impossible to keep this show lively and funny, it's like everyone's too attached to the emotional arcs and potential growth of these characters that it all becomes kind of depressing -- they love them too much to make fun of them but they're too beholden to the original stakes that they also can't change anything.

Up until this season, however, I've found Goranson to be the best part of the revival and I think she's far improved from the original run. That said, now that they've given her this new-single-broke-mom-fresh-into-addiction-recovery baggage, a lot of the spark is gone and it's just all too heavy. It's just not what we're here for. Well, not me, anyway!

 

On 10/8/2021 at 7:38 AM, Winston Wolfe said:

One of the all-time greats, Spencer Tracy I think, once said "the public should never see you acting." I know exactly what you mean. The odd thing is, AG has such unique facial features she's always interesting to watch. You don't see her "look" on TV very often. And yes, she did seem much more relaxed and natural in the show's original run.

 

On 10/8/2021 at 6:33 PM, ItsHelloPattiagain said:

Correct.  She wasn't crazy or unhinged in any way in the early seasons.  She was family oriented enough to have hung around her sister's house all the time to be part of THEIR family.  Now they are pretending that she's this crazy spinster type.  Thinking realistically, if you knew a family like the Connors, Jackie would have almost certainly have been married and had a kid (or two).  

I was a fan of the nuance and brilliance of the early years of the old show. When Roseanne was at its best they had an amazing balance of humor and poignancy. Now, whenever something bad happens it is jokey jokesville.

When Roseanne got hired and then lost what was kind of a dream job for her, the later scenes almost hurt because you could feel her shame and embarrassment.

The scene where Dan admits he hated Mark because he felt that Mark ruined Becky's life (even though that was unfair) from last season packed a ton of punch

I know the family used humor to deal with their problems but they are cracking jokes that are mean and ridiculous at the moment. They really need to deal with the terrible moments honestly and lay off all the insulting jokes about each other for half a minute. 

Also, Katy S has looks amazing.

Edited October 14, 2021 by qtpye

[kassa]

9 minutes ago, qtpye said:

I know the family used humor to deal with their problems but they are cracking jokes that are mean and ridiculous at the moment. They really need to deal with the terrible moments honestly and lay off all the insulting jokes about each other for half a minute. 

 

They're taking the kind of snide remarks Roseanne would have made about a hated neighbor and having Jackie say them. Every once in a while Jackie would completely lose it with Roseanne and say something really nasty ("I wish we all could be a happily married couple who each weigh 500 lbs!") But literal seasons would pass between such moments. And she did the same about her mother, then they started making that pretty much all her interactions behind her mother's back and then to her face.  And now she's talking to everybody that way and it's just not Jackie.

Same for Becky. She'd occasionally make a snide dismissive comment to Darlene, whose responses were always nastier and funnier. But they didn't glory in it - it was just something deadpan they did as siblings. But now they're just flinging disparaging remarks at each other constantly, and it's not realistic, especially in such close quarters. I think we're supposed to think they're being playful, but it's not working, and I don't think it's the actresses - I think it's because they're taking serious issues like alcoholism and a heartbreaking adult breakup and acting like they're a natural continuation of exchanging "butthead" insults. 

Dan and Roseanne used to joke about being poor, and it was poignant but funny and consistent with people in the same boat and getting by day by day by making light of whatever they could. But there wasn't meanness in it - it was gallows humor.  Maybe they're shooting for that with this reboot, but there's waaaaay too much of it.