Season 3 Discussion

[ItCouldBeWorse]

31 minutes ago, BoogieBurns said:

I personally would have loved Donald Glover since he was an actor in Community and also has an amazing rap career. Plus, he's scandal-free. But that's if I had a genie.

He's also the new Lando Calrissian and is probably working on the next season of Atlanta. If you haven't watched Atlanta yet and have the ability to, you definitely should!

On 3/31/2017 at 9:39 PM, jhlipton said:

I liked the slogan "Put some Uvo on it" -- it was cool.  And the first ad was fine until it came to a screeching halt.  Geeez!!!  I don't think Zoey would have liked that either. 

I agree.

[BoogieBurns]

38 minutes ago, ItCouldBeWorse said:

He's also the new Lando Calrissian and is probably working on the next season of Atlanta. If you haven't watched Atlanta yet and have the ability to, you definitely should!

I have seen everything he's in, I think. I know he's in high demand, that's why it's my genie wish. He could even get me to see a Star War for the first time. 

[Vyk]

On ‎3‎/‎30‎/‎2017 at 8:15 AM, Cattitude said:

I thought the Johnson kids came off very annoying about all the separate dinners and also the way they disrespected their grandmother with the taunting. I'm a southern woman and family meals together are important and you don't do that to your grandmother.

Eh.  I didn't mind it since Ruby more or less reaped what she sowed by forcing her ways on them in the first place.

On ‎3‎/‎31‎/‎2017 at 8:05 AM, LydiaMoon1 said:

Tell me about it.  I was truly appalled.

I think we were supposed to be appalled.  That's why they had Bow and Ruby speak up about that particular part after Dre showed it to the family.

Honestly, I kind of dug that Junior finally gave some back to Dre by saying he was withholding praise from him, ending with "Hurts, doesn't it?"  Of course, then he blows it away by giving in, anyway, when he sees how hurt Dre is by that.  Though at the same time, Dre trying so hard not to cry about that made me titter.

[mtlchick]

Quote

He's also the new Lando Calrissian and is probably working on the next season of Atlanta. 

Not to get too off topic, but season 2 of Atlanta has been delayed until 2018 because of the Star Wars movie. 

[ElectricBoogaloo]

I had no idea Chris Brown was going to guest star in this episode so I didn't know until I actually saw him on my screen. Even then, I thought there was no way it was really him because a show that emphasizes having strong black role models wouldn't hire an unrepentant woman beater as a guest star. I thought surely they must have just found some no name guy who looks like Chris Brown for this guest spot. Guess I was wrong and they're cool with domestic violence.

Quote

Chris looked terrible. Drug abuse is no joke.

Neither is girlfriend abuse, which is exactly why he shouldn't have been on the show in the first place. He didn't look nearly as terrible as Rihanna did after he beat the shit out of her.

My mom made dinner for three kids and my dad so there was no way in hell she was making multiple meals. You ate what she cooked or you were free to look in the refrigerator for something else (like leftovers from the night before). When we were very little, we ate everything on our plates. We weren't loaded so my parents did not tolerate wasting perfectly good food. My mom always made some sort of protein plus a vegetable dish and some kind of carb so there was enough to eat even if you didn't like the main course. I'm not a super picky eater but there are certain things I loathe (bell peppers and eggplant are high on the list) so every once in a while when my mom made eggplant, I would just skip that part. But there was no skipping veggies when I was a kid. My mom counted out five pieces of broccoli or whatever and that was what you had to eat so that you had a well balanced meal.

If the family is still trying to be more fiscally responsible (as we saw from Bow and Dre meeting with a financial planner), which should be even more of a concern now that there is a fifth kid on the way, not ordering food as often is definitely one way to help decrease extraneous spending. That alone should be a reason for at least considering making more meals at home. I get that everyone has different preferences but having four kids order take out from four different places for one meal is kind of ridiculous. Unless you have severe food allergies, you need to learn how to eat things besides your absolute favorite things. Junior being allergic to squash is one thing. Diane being off tube shaped pasta is just stupid.

I thought part of the solution should have been that the kids need to start being responsible for dinner. They are all old enough to cook basic things and since Junior and Zoe are going to be going to college soon, they definitely need to start learning how to make meals for themselves. And once they learned what a pain in the ass it was to prepare multiple dishes to suit every person's requests, they would stop being so demanding about Bow making dinner.

Loved that Bow got Ruby back with that mushroom lasagna!

I was so glad that Bow and Ruby immediately told Dre how terrible that ad was and why. On a less serious note, those rare moments when Bow and Ruby are on the same side are enjoyable.

[NutmegsDad]

After reading the comments and realizing who the Special Guest Star was, I wanted to put some Uvo on this episode to get a better SGS, or, in lieu thereof, have a 24-minute episode where said SGS is systematically tortured by Diane in her hidden cellar under the house.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Now I'm trying to imagine what Chris Brown would turn into if you put some Uvo on him.

[jhlipton]

4 hours ago, ElectricBoogaloo said:

Now I'm trying to imagine what Chris Brown would turn into if you put some Uvo on him.

Denzel

[BoogieBurns]

7 hours ago, ElectricBoogaloo said:

Now I'm trying to imagine what Chris Brown would turn into if you put some Uvo on him.

Chance the rapper

12 hours ago, ElectricBoogaloo said:

my parents did not tolerate wasting perfectly good food.

I don't think any food was wasted. I just never ate dinner. They stopped making any portions for me very short into my years-long stand. I'm 31 and still forget to eat dinner more than 2 nights a week. It's possible (read: very likely) that I'm just odd.

[jhlipton]

3 hours ago, BoogieBurns said:

 It's possible (read: very likely) that I'm just odd.

C'est possible!

[ElectricBoogaloo]

18 hours ago, ElectricBoogaloo said:

Now I'm trying to imagine what Chris Brown would turn into if you put some Uvo on him.

 

13 hours ago, jhlipton said:

Denzel

HA! Insert a Ruby-esque "UMPH" here.

But according to Dre's commercial, putting Uvo on Chris Brown should turn him into a friendly complacent white person.

[LADreamr]

On April 3, 2017 at 1:06 AM, ElectricBoogaloo said:

 

I had no idea Chris Brown was going to guest star in this episode so I didn't know until I actually saw him on my screen. Even then, I thought there was no way it was really him because a show that emphasizes having strong black role models wouldn't hire an unrepentant woman beater as a guest star. I thought surely they must have just found some no name guy who looks like Chris Brown for this guest spot. Guess I was wrong and they're cool with domestic violence.

 

 

Same. I didn't believe it could really be him until I saw his name in the end credits.  I was very disappointed in the show, which is one of the few shows that are appointment TV for me.  Have they addressed this, at all?

[Boofish]

I am the youngest of 7 and if we didn't eat something it was not a problem; just don't put that portion of the meal on your plate. We didn't get a special meal or order out back in those days but there was always bread and sandwich fixings with fruit. And honestly, 5 out of 7 of us didn't like beans so my mother would NEVER make beans.  She would always say "I'm not going to eat anything I don't like and I'm not forcing my kids to do it either" Much to other ladies in our family dismay. My mother was very understanding about such things and or she just decided to spend her energy elsewhere. To this day, if one of my nieces or nephews say they don't eat something I say "OK" If I have an alternative I will offer it up and if we can't find common ground here is a piece of fruit to keep you from getting to hungry until your parents come and fetch ya ' - easy peasy lemon squeezy. 

I thought Junior thinking he had a mental connection with Bow was the sweetest part of this episode along with "LEAVE MY MOTHER ALONE;" don't care if he was talking to Ruby. When there are multiple children it's nice to feel like there is something in your mommy that's just between the two of you.

Ignoring the A plot.

[jhlipton]

21 hours ago, ElectricBoogaloo said:

 

HA! Insert a Ruby-esque "UMPH" here.

But according to Dre's commercial, putting Uvo on Chris Brown should turn him into a friendly complacent white person.

To both your comments:  YASSSSSSS!!!!!

[ElectricBoogaloo]

So maybe if you put some Uvo on Chris Brown, he would turn into...Ryan Reynolds?

[TudorQueen]

Even if it does mean Dre gets thrown under another bus - Pops is really awful to him most of the time - it will be worth it because of Laurence M-F Fishburne!!!

[charmed1]

"Lose weight eating bread my ASS!" Ha! I swear that sounds more Jenifer than Ruby. 

I thought the Buick was Zoey's. Does Bow have one too?

Any Raven is too much Raven for me. 

I always get confused about the age of the Dre character. Anthony Anderson is 46 years old and looks every bit of it, but I think one episode had Dre turning 40. In the Jheri curl flashbacks, Dre is always a little boy. When the series began, I could've sworn he was a teen in those flashbacks, which would make sense, since Anderson was a teen then. But then it seemed like he got younger and younger. Now I know Cali held on to that leisure curl a tad bit longer than the rest of the country, but come on. (Don't come for me, Cali folks. Y'all know I'm not lying!) And how old is Rhonda supposed to be? I'm old enough to remember the debut of annoying ass step-kid, Olivia on the Cosby Show, and Raven was only about 3 or 4 years old then. Anthony Anderson was a grown man. 

I guess maybe they have to make Dre young to make up for Jenifer Lewis and Larry Fishburn being so young.

Edited April 6, 2017 by charmed1

[mtlchick]

Not sure if I liked this one a lot because of the Zoey/Junior plot.  At worst, Zoey used to be pretty vapid but has always been the most level headed of the kids, so I don't understand why Bow 1) felt that Zoey would have to be supervised and 2) that Junior was the best person to do it.  We're talking about a guy who needs a cape (?!) for a party.  And it's starting to bug that Junior is being turned into this weird outcast who doesn't understand social mores.

[Deanie87]

I loved this episode!  Junior may be my absolute favorite tv character right now, he is definitely my favorite tv kid.  "Mom, I'm a user!"  I just love how comfortable he is in his own skin and the actor who plays him is just so great.  His moral indignation at the partiers and then him being all high had me laughing out loud the entire episode.  I also really like his relationship with Bow and their mutual nerdiness.  The parallels between Dre and Ruby and Junior and Bow and interesting, but where Dre idealizes his mother (and given everything with Pops it makes sense I guess), Bow and Junior really have a lot in common and seem to enjoy each other's company.  Funny how the parental units in the Johnson family seem to go along gender lines: Dre/Zoe, Bow/Junior, Ruby/Dre, Pops/Rhonda.

I think that Bow's reaction to Zoe was understandable, even if it was a bit unreasonable.  I have seen plenty of parents coming down a little harder on the "good" kids out of the blue, like they only have a few more years to get out of the "danger zone" and they don't want to see anything wreck it.  As a "good" teenager, it really sucked, but as a parent, I totally get it.

I loved the twins as the Forgotten Children as well.  I like it when Diane is age appropriately mischevious, but not out and out and evil mastermind.  

[Joimiaroxeu]

Quote

 I like it when Diane is age appropriately mischevious, but not out and out and evil mastermind.  

Me too. I'm glad the people responsible for this show have turned away from that awful characterization of Diane. Though after seeing Pops' "rap sheet" laid out like it was, it might could work to suggest that some of his wicked genes skipped a generation and landed in Diane.

[Traveller519]

I missed the office scenes tonight, but it wouldn't have really made sense, as this was a pretty uniquely family episode. In fact all of The Goldbergs, Modern Family, and Black-ish were pretty light on guests and recurring characters tonight to hit their whole ensembles.

The twins being mischievous around an exhausted Bow were great. My personal favorite sequence was when she was on the phone with junior telling him everyone isn't looking at him [Everyone was TOTALLY looking at him!] then outside the kitchen shutters you see the twins climbing a ladder to the roof. Haha.

"No  you don't!"

[Guest]

On 3/30/2017 at 8:33 AM, Ina123 said:

"When I was a kid, we complained about biscuits and gravy for breakfast every morning. One time Mom said she'd try something else the next day. Sure enough it was different. We got gravy and NO biscuits."

Ha, that's funny.  I thought you were going to say the next day she called it gravy and biscuits.  My Italian grandmother used to joke that in the depression they had two dinners they rotated-- pasta & beans and beans & pasta.

On 3/30/2017 at 1:22 PM, peeayebee said:

Every time they mentioned Uvo, I thought about evoo, i.e., extra virgin olive oil. 

That and uzo, the Greek licorice-y liqueur.  

[BoogieBurns]

7 hours ago, charmed1 said:

And how old is Rhonda supposed to be? I'm old enough to remember the debut of annoying ass step-kid, Olivia on the Cosby Show, and Raven was only about 3 or 4 years old then. Anthony Anderson was a grown man. 

I assumed they were just under 10 years apart. So maybe Raven is playing 33 (she is 31) and Anthony is playing 41. She isn't in any of his childhood memories, which makes it seem like he had plenty of "only child" years before she came around. 

[tennisgurl]

I love Junior, but he seemed WAY over the top this week. I know he's a naïve dork, and I love him for that, but he seemed like he normally lives in some kind of bubble in this episode. Its not like he has no social skills whatsoever. He has made friends before, he has a girlfriend, he goes to school, he must have some awareness that teenagers drink at parties. I did like him standing up for Zoe. I also thought Bow suspecting Zoe of wrong doings despite being a basically good kid worked alright for me.

You know, you wanted to remind Dre that his mom isn't a saint, someone should remind him that she treats Bow like crap basically every single day, in front of everyone. I know Dre doesn't mind, but you'd think other people might.

Pops! Never leave us again Pops!

[luckyroll3]

"This punch smells like Pops room!"  LMAO.  And Coach Dad!  So many chuckle worth moments.

[luckyroll3]

I let out a loud, "Oh HELL nah!" when they turned the black girl into a blonde chic.  I was ready to fight somebody!  Lol!

I was definitely one of those kids who fell asleep into my dinner plate because I refused to eat.  Not because I was picky, but because my grandmother couldn't cook....she would put sugar (and lots of it) in almost everything.  I would take one bite and it was over.  

I was so disappointed to see Chris Brown in this episode.  I wish people would stop giving him jobs.  

[ItCouldBeWorse]

Bow mentioned something about Zoey's college acceptance. I guess the showrunners still haven't decided where she's going, or are waiting to launch the spinoff to tell us.

[fishcakes]

I feel like there might have been some deliberate purpose in casting Chris Brown in an episode about how pop culture represents black people, but if so, they missed the mark because the problem with Brown is not so much how he presents himself, but how he is. Either that, or they were forced to use him because Brown has some relationship with ABC. It seems like he performs on Dancing with the Stars every once in a while, so maybe there's some connection between the network and his music label. I don't know though, and I don't care enough to check.

I want to record the list of Charlie's haters in case we need it later:

Quote

The Girl Twin
Malia Obama
Mississippi
Siri
The guys that's after me

Poor Josh. So proud of his New Balance orthopedic walking shoes. I can definitely see him walking the mall in those with the other retirees.

[Vyk]

8 hours ago, mtlchick said:

Not sure if I liked this one a lot because of the Zoey/Junior plot.  At worst, Zoey used to be pretty vapid but has always been the most level headed of the kids, so I don't understand why Bow 1) felt that Zoey would have to be supervised

Zoey did once sneak out with the car, which forced Bow to make her miss her spring social.  So Zoey's not above doing sneaky things.  I can see Bow needing her supervised just in case.

And given that it turned out she was going to a rager and knew she was, it made sense to have someone go with her.  Junior was . . . just the wrong person to send with her.

[Happytobehere]

Last week Chris Brown, this week Raven Simone --- Why show why?

My girl a Ruby: Blew up Pops' boat.  Shot Pops. Blew up Pops other boat. Shot Pops again.  I don't blame her because how did a man too poor to buy his children Christmas present get money for not ONE but TWO boats.  Not mad about the cheating either, Pops cheated on her multiple times and is never called on it, but aruby's reactions to him are discussed all the time.  That's some Black Mamma love sleeping with Dre's teachers to help him succeed.

Junior's gonna Junior.

Dre remains a b***h baby.

Bow's attack on Zoe and defense of Junior, speak volumes about her and not in a good way.  Will she do Junior the same way? Doubt it.

[MyAimIsTrue]

Loved the episode, especially Diane and Junior, but nothing cracked me up more than Ruby's blink and you miss it airplane scene with Ahmad Rashad.

[GHScorpiosRule]

NOT.ENOUGH.POPS!!!!!!!???

I'm not sure when this was filmed, but damn if Raven didn't look like she'd gained a LOT of weight since her last appearance and since I saw her last on The View.

I howled at the airplane scene with Ruby and Ahmad!???

Junior high on weed was also hilarious!?????

But I wanted more Pops and some flashbacks of Pops too, DAMMIT!!!

Edited April 9, 2017 by GHScorpiosRule

[Dee]

On 4/6/2017 at 11:34 AM, Traveller519 said:

My personal favorite sequence was when she was on the phone with junior telling him everyone isn't looking at him [Everyone was TOTALLY looking at him!] then outside the kitchen shutters you see the twins climbing a ladder to the roof.

I loved this episode from beginning to end, but this was far & away, my favorite part.

Edited April 7, 2017 by Dee

[Dee]

12 hours ago, BoogieBurns said:

I assumed they were just under 10 years apart. So maybe Raven is playing 33 (she is 31) and Anthony is playing 41. She isn't in any of his childhood memories, which makes it seem like he had plenty of "only child" years before she came around. 

Rhonda's been in at least one of Dre's flashbacks, it was a fairly quick one though, so it could be fairly easy to miss. 

[Dee]

16 hours ago, mtlchick said:

At worst, Zoey used to be pretty vapid but has always been the most level headed of the kids, so I don't understand why Bow 1) felt that Zoey would have to be supervised 

I noted Rainbow's ugly issues with Zoey last season

Rainbow treats her the way Andre supposedly does Junior.

[charmed1]

8 hours ago, MyAimIsTrue said:

Loved the episode, especially Diane and Junior, but nothing cracked me up more than Ruby's blink and you miss it airplane scene with Ahmad Rashad.

That was Bishop Desmond Tutu and he had stolen her peanuts for goodness sake.

[shura]

2 hours ago, charmed1 said:

That was Bishop Desmond Tutu and he had stolen her peanuts for goodness sake.

Exactly. What was she to do in the situation but search for the peanuts in his crotch area?

[Joimiaroxeu]

Quote

Last week Chris Brown, this week Raven Simone --- Why show why?

At this rate I fully expect to see an appearance by OJ Simpson since it's a good possibility he'll be released from prison later this year. This show seems to be trying send some kind of message.

[ItCouldBeWorse]

2 minutes ago, Joimiaroxeu said:

At this rate I fully expect to see an appearance by OJ Simpson since it's a good possibility he'll be released from prison later this year. This show seems to be trying send some kind of message.

Ha!  That would definitely get ratings.

Is Larry Wilmore still involved with this show?  Someone should ask him what he thinks of the Chris Brown appearance.

Raven-Symoné has said some controversial things, but she has usually responded to criticism and is not in the same league as Chris Brown.

[teebax]

I loved this episode and would put it in my top 5 for the series. Junior is hilarious, and I love how he's completely comfortable with who he is.

As usual, the show touched on something I've experienced. I was born in '72 and have a brother who was born in '61. Growing up in the same house, I naturally fell in love with the music he listened to growing up. As much as I love 80s music, I also love 70s music because of his influence on me. Recently we were talking about music, and he mentioned Earth, Wind & Fire. I told him how much I love them. Without missing a beat, he said, "No, you don't."

I don't know if the show has a writer who grew up exactly when I did and in the same type of family or what, but they are constantly having scenes that remind me of my family.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

On 4/6/2017 at 11:57 AM, ItCouldBeWorse said:

Bow mentioned something about Zoey's college acceptance. I guess the showrunners still haven't decided where she's going, or are waiting to launch the spinoff to tell us.

I think Bow just said, "You'll be leaving for college in a few months," which to me means Zoey applied to several colleges and the expectation is that she is leaving home in the fall, not necessarily that she has heard back from all the places she applied. I think if you apply to a school regular admission (not early admission or a school with rolling admission), they notify you either way by some time in April. The timeline this season has been off, so I have no idea what month it is on this show (although at least we saw that Bow's belly was noticeably bigger, especially at the end when she was in bed) but Zoey should be receiving acceptance/rejection letters soon. In previous years, we've had 24 episodes per season so we should find out about Zoey's college/future plans in the next four episodes!

[OnceSane]

Quote

Bow’s sister comes to town after filming a stint on a reality show, and they couldn’t have less in common. Meanwhile, Zoey suggests that Dre spend more time with Junior since she’s leaving for college, and Jack and Diane decide to rebrand themselves.

Quote

Zoey gets accepted to several colleges around the country, leading Dre and Bow to reflect back on memories they've had with the family and wonder what life will be like without her around. Meanwhile, Pops enlists the twins to try and sway Zoey to go to college in a city they want to visit.

 

[Tiger]

On 4/6/2017 at 10:12 PM, MyAimIsTrue said:

Loved the episode, especially Diane and Junior, but nothing cracked me up more than Ruby's blink and you miss it airplane scene with Ahmad Rashad.

Ruby thinking Ahmad Rashad was Desmond Tutu was hilarious, as was Raven delineating Ruby's crimes against Pops.  

But the twins story seemed to be taking place in soke pocket dimmension and frankly didnt make sense as Bow, Dre, Ruby, Pops, and Raven were all in the house at the same time.

I also didnt that they made Junior is a total cartoon.  

[NUguy514]

On 4/6/2017 at 11:28 PM, Dee said:

Rainbow treats her the way Andre supposedly does Junior.

Bow's treatment of Zoey was terrible and unfair this episode, but it doesn't hold a candle to the way Dre treats Junior almost every episode.  At least Bow apologized to Zoey.  Dre is unrepentantly mean and horrible to Junior, and it always bothers me.

[Dee]

Rainbow regularly bullies and ridicules Zoey.

Yes, she (like her husband) occasionally apologizes for her awful behavior, but she never leaves the poor girl alone. 

[NUguy514]

Bow's treatment of Zoey doesn't bother me anywhere near as much as Dre's treatment of Junior, to whom he never apologizes.  Like, ever.  YMMV.

[Dee]

Andre regularly apologizes. Why does Rainbow skate but not him?

[sinkwriter]

My favorite scenes were when Zoey defended Junior, trying to get him out of the party, and when Junior later defended her to their mom.

And the sight gag of Diane climbing the ladder to the roof behind the scene as Bow was on the phone with Junior. I seriously thought they'd get caught by Bow eventually.

[sinkwriter]

The line that made me laugh out loud the hardest was Ruby's comment about how there's nothing perfect in this world, except Jesus... and Luther Vandross' first album. HA! Awesome. (I was just listening to his music last week, and missing his gorgeous voice. Unparalleled voice, for sure.)

[Dee]

5 minutes ago, sinkwriter said:

My favorite scenes were when Zoey defended Junior, trying to get him out of the party, and when Junior later defended her to their mom.

One of my favorite things about Zoey is that although she (like Andre) enjoys teasing her nerdy little brother, she's also very protective of him.

I hope if/when the show is renewed we get more scenes of them in social settings before Zoey heads off to college.