S03.E04: Citizen Jessica

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Quote

The Cattleman's Ranch serves as the polling place for the 1996 presidential election; Jessica suspects one of the restaurant employees is an undocumented immigrant; Eddie and his friends debate about who killed a famous rapper.

[memememe76]

OMG, the Tupac debate was hilarious. 

[partofme]

It was a funny episode, though I was disappointed to see Emory campaigning for Dole.  

[MaryMitch]

I wonder if "Prop 187" was a real thing in the Florida 1996 elections.

If the show goes on for 4 more years, we might see the 2000 Florida election examined!

[Blakeston]

56 minutes ago, MaryMitch said:

I wonder if "Prop 187" was a real thing in the Florida 1996 elections.

If the show goes on for 4 more years, we might see the 2000 Florida election examined!

That was the name of the California anti-immigrant proposition from 1994. The show just pretended that it happened two years later, in Florida.

I felt like calling immigration on their chef was crossing a line, even for a character like Jessica. The show is at its best when your jaw drops at some of her more extreme antics, but you don't actually hate her. I was definitely hating her here.

[Ikki]

Yeah , I love Jessica, but I was pissed at her for that.

Eddie's storyline was my favorite, so that was new. I'm too young and too not into rap to fully get it, but I'm aware enough to have found it hilarious . 

[Black Knight]

2 hours ago, partofme said:

It was a funny episode, though I was disappointed to see Emory campaigning for Dole.  

I voted for Clinton back then, but Dole was a sane moderate. That's one of the reasons for the voter apathy that election that the show mentioned - most people were fine with either one being president. It wasn't the polarizing climate of "We're all DOOMED!! if X wins!" of more recent elections. Emory is the nicest of the brothers, so I can understand how Dole appealed to him personality-wise and expect that's really what his choice was based on.

I hope Suge isn't going to come for Nahnatchka Khan. Heh. I loved how specific and detailed the arguments were.

[ClareWalks]

When Dave said "so are you saying...Tupac DIDN'T sing Parents Just Don't Understand?" I almost died. Oh Dave, never change :)

[peeayebee]

2 hours ago, Ikki said:

Eddie's storyline was my favorite, so that was new. I'm too young and too not into rap to fully get it, but I'm aware enough to have found it hilarious . 

I'm not into rap but I am old. Still, I enjoyed this plot line the most, mainly for seeing all of Eddie's friends interacting. Their argument was a lot of fun.

[Calamity Jane]

The Prop 187 part confused me so completely.  It was a HUGE issue at the time, so divisive, and so well-known, that I couldn't understand how the story wasn't suddenly taking place in California instead of in Florida.  I think that was a problem, honestly.  Does Florida even have propositions?  I don't know if every state does; I just know that I had to wade through seventeen of them this year, essentially doing a legislator's job without the benefit of the research and background those folks get.  Anyway, I thought they should have at least re-designated it since it was fictitious anyway.  

Also, agreed that Jessica went from amusingly quirky over the line into fully obnoxious and despicable this time.  I expected somebody to get arrested for all the blatant violations of voting rights at the polling place, too.  

The only good part was the kids' battle about Tupac.  

[MortysCleaningLady]

I watch sitcoms and fast forward through the political ads this time of year as a reprieve and yet, we got a preachy "you have to vote" message.  Disappointed. 

 

(And don't worry, I have done my research on the issues and candidates and am prepared on everything from President to county commissioners and county sheriff.  I just don't appreciate television giving me politics.  Same thing with Lynda Carter on Supergirl.)

[Lawgiver]

Florida's big things are constitutional amendments and county questions. No propositions. As a Florida resident, that kind of took me out of the story. Usually I can hand wave away preposterous storylines, but that bugged me. It was so Cali instead of FL.

[Ikki]

Now that people have mentioned it, I remember having read about Prop 187 and what it meant for California for a course in college just a few years ago. I agree that it's too significant to have been fictionalized the way it was. At least change the name of what you're talking about.

I think they got too caught up on showing how this 90s are relevant today in that particular storyline.

[Unraveled]

I didn't even think about the proposition thing. It's certainly something that I associate with California.

I do know that other I received my permanent residency in the 1980s, and I believe they didn't expire. (It turns out that expiration dates started in 1989 after I got my card. I assume the character Jessica would have gotten hers before then since the children were born in the 80s.) Permanent resident cards that don't expire are still valid and do not need to be renewed.

[mtlchick]

The argument on Tupac then coming to the conclusion that he is still alive cracked me up good. But I hope Suge Knight didn't watch this as I now fear for the kids. 

 

im pretty much done with election stuff so the main plot didn't sustain much interest outside of Emory telling Evan that the chair had a better chance than Dole and his very slow clap. 

[ItCouldBeWorse]

Sorry to nitpick, but please explain how a rectangular cafeteria table can fit 3 kids on one side, but only 2 kids on the opposite side, so that if a 6th kid wants to join the original 5, one kid must now sit on the floor (and not only is the 6th kid not huge, but the kid moving to the floor is unusually small?)

I know, it's a sitcom and a callback, but still.

Edited November 3, 2016 by ItCouldBeWorse

[juliet73]

I love that Grandma even knew Suge Knight was responsible for Tupac's death!  Eddie and his friends totally reminded me of my nephews.  I lived in Las Vegas at the time when Tupac was shot.  My nephews who were in Jr high at the time, came to town to visit a couple of weeks after Tupac died. The first thing they wanted to do was to go to the intersection where he was gunned down.  

Edited November 3, 2016 by juliet73

[Mrs OldManBalls]

9 hours ago, ItCouldBeWorse said:

(and not only is the 6th kid not huge, but the kid moving to the floor is unusually small?)

He seems so small and ill looking....I worry about him. I love that little group of friends though. 

[Red Bridey]

23 hours ago, Unraveled said:

I didn't even think about the proposition thing. It's certainly something that I associate with California.

I do know that other I received my permanent residency in the 1980s, and I believe they didn't expire. (It turns out that expiration dates started in 1989 after I got my card. I assume the character Jessica would have gotten hers before then since the children were born in the 80s.) Permanent resident cards that don't expire are still valid and do not need to be renewed.

LPR green cards do expire after ten years, but your status as an LPR does not.  Therefore, Jessica was NOT liable for deportation because her status is not contingent on the card.  The government just wants a renewal fee and an updated photo.  But it's a TV show so I don't take it as a documentary!

[Tiger]

Loved Eddie and his friends debating Tupac's death, hated everything else.

The first and then last season, for me Eddie and his friends floated week to week from filler to mildly amusing.

This season that group is not only the best part of this show, but my favorite part of all of the comedies I watch.  The actors and writing for them have not only found their groove, theyre firing on all cylinders!

[theatremouse]

I know these things tend to go in waves but it was weird to me (and annoying) that this year seems to be the year of "hey look our <place of business> is a polling place!" episodes. I didn't enjoy it on Superstore and I didn't enjoy it here. I don't recall other shows doing this in election years. I hope it doesn't become a thing.

[ItCouldBeWorse]

On 11/5/2016 at 0:16 AM, theatremouse said:

 

I know these things tend to go in waves but it was weird to me (and annoying) that this year seems to be the year of "hey look our <place of business> is a polling place!" episodes. I didn't enjoy it on Superstore and I didn't enjoy it here. I don't recall other shows doing this in election years. I hope it doesn't become a thing.

 

On Life in Pieces it was a neighbor's garage which seemed even stranger. I'm used to schools and houses of worship.

[Raja]

6 hours ago, ItCouldBeWorse said:

On Life in Pieces it was a neighbor's garage which seemed even stranger. I'm used to schools and houses of worship.

When I was a kid the polling place was in the neighbor's garage on the corner. When more people started voting by mail the local polling places where consolidated in the local school's auditorium putting it out of walking distance for many 

[ItCouldBeWorse]

33 minutes ago, Raja said:

When I was a kid the polling place was in the neighbor's garage on the corner. When more people started voting by mail the local polling places where consolidated in the local school's auditorium putting it out of walking distance for many 

I didn't know that the polling places had to be within walking distance. There were always organizations offering to drive voters to the poll. I've only voted in 2 northeastern states that I'm fairly sure do not use garages. If nothing else, the weather might be too nasty in November. Are you in a warm state?

[Raja]

Los Angeles, but being in a corner garage the polls were in walking distance for the four streets that met at the intersection. Finding enough retired and seasonal workers for a few hundred rotors must have cost the county a buck so I can see why the consolidation into fewer polling places. Where I work the polling is in a Jewish Temple, near my home a LAUSD school for the deaf.

[ItCouldBeWorse]

1 hour ago, Raja said:

Los Angeles, but being in a corner garage the polls were in walking distance for the four streets that met at the intersection. Finding enough retired and seasonal workers for a few hundred rotors must have cost the county a buck so I can see why the consolidation into fewer polling places. Where I work the polling is in a Jewish Temple, near my home a LAUSD school for the deaf.

Kudos to the people whose garages are empty enough to qualify as polling places!

[peeayebee]

In our neighborhood (LA area), my polling place one year was supposed to be a garage, but the person was on vacation, so the election people had to get a mobile home and park it close to the garage. Fortunately this wasn't a major election.

[SmithW6079]

I couldn't even watch. I am so sick of anything election-related that I don't want to see it on my shows, even if the show takes place 20 years ago. And is it just me, or does it seem like many sitcoms are doing election stories?

On 11/2/2016 at 0:59 PM, Black Knight said:

Dole was a sane moderate.

He was the last one.

[ItCouldBeWorse]

9 hours ago, SmithW6079 said:

I couldn't even watch. I am so sick of anything election-related that I don't want to see it on my shows, even if the show takes place 20 years ago. And is it just me, or does it seem like many sitcoms are doing election stories?

It's not just you.  However, the presidential election only happens every four years so it looms large in people's minds. . Many sitcoms had Halloween episodes last week, and that's an event that occurs every year.

[Raja]

On 11/6/2016 at 6:29 AM, ItCouldBeWorse said:

Kudos to the people whose garages are empty enough to qualify as polling places!

As a letter carrier I became amazed at the percentage of people who are full scale horders and I have worked both the gangland of South Central LA and neighborhoods of $2 million dollar homes on the westside of Los Angeles.

[ItCouldBeWorse]

As is turned out, my polling place on Tuesday did not have stickers, whereas some of my co-workers, whose polling places are not far from mine, did receive stickers.  Not a big deal now, but when my kids were little and came to vote with me, I felt that putting the sticker on them kind of cemented in their minds that we had done something of value.

Edited November 10, 2016 by ItCouldBeWorse

[ElectricBoogaloo]

On the street where I grew up, our polling place was a neighbor's garage. In the neighborhood where I live now, my polling place is the church around the corner but if you live further down the street, the polling place is a garage. In some of the previous elections (same neighborhood), my polling place was the community center across the street from the church. I've always wondered why my polling place switches back and forth between the two locations. Neither is better/preferable in any way to me in terms of the amount of space or parking.

We had the same old stickers that are always given out. My friend who lives in Las Vegas had a super cool sticker with mini versions of some of the casinos! I was totally jealous. 

[AgentRXS]

I'm a huge Tupac fan, and was also in the 8th grade when he died. I remember vividly going to school the day after he was shot. 1st period/homeroom was held in the auditorium and was usually quiet, with people sleeping/studying/finishing up the previous nights homework. That day, the whole room was buzzing with chatter, and teachers even addressed it and talked to the class about our thoughts on gang/gun violence. The show is on point that most people were fiercely divided on whether it was Biggie and/or Puffy or Suge that did it.

The only nitpick is that (at least in my area) the "Toss it Up" video got very little play and wasn't the one that people held as example that he was still alive. All my friends thought that his "I Ain't Mad at Cha"  video (that depicts him dying in a very similar fashion to his real death) was his clue to fans that he was still alive.

Its hard to believe all this is 20 years ago.  I miss the '90s so much and am glad that I grew up in a time before social media took over the world.

Also, if the head writers really want to keep it real....Eddie wouldn't be watch MTV as much as he would be watching The Box. For those that don't know, The Box was an exclusive 24/7 music video channel that played viewer requested videos, for 99 cents a pop, regardless of genre. Many bored teenage hours were spent with The Box on in the background. I could see Eddie running up the phone bill by constantly requesting gangsta rap videos to be played repeatedly.

[HawaiiTVGuy]

I think it was the previous episode that I first noticed it, but man the kids have all grown up so much since last season.  They all seemed to hit simulatneous growth spurts, I think you can tell they filmed the Taiwan episode way earlier than the later episodes.  It is a little disconcerting but realistic.

[Raja]

On 11/29/2016 at 10:37 PM, AgentRXS said:

 

Also, if the head writers really want to keep it real....Eddie wouldn't be watch MTV as much as he would be watching The Box. For those that don't know, The Box was an exclusive 24/7 music video channel that played viewer requested videos, for 99 cents a pop, regardless of genre. Many bored teenage hours were spent with The Box on in the background. I could see Eddie running up the phone bill by constantly requesting gangsta rap videos to be played repeatedly.

I would think Jessica would put a quick stop to that and then we would see the abuse the real Eddie wanted included in the show.

[theatremouse]

I'm also the same real-life age and never heard of The Box, so I think it's entirely reasonable they not go there.

[AgentRXS]

The Box  may just  be a FL thing..