S03.E09 Highs and Lows

[AnnaRose]

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American Housewife

Highs and Lows (Season 3 | Episode 9)

8:30PM (EST) | ABC

Oliver and Taylor stumble through their love lives, making Katie miss the spontaneity and unpredictability of being young and in love. Meanwhile, Kathryn's plan to soothe Oliver's heartbreak backfires when she tracks down an old boyfriend, Dan, and he is not as she remembers. At the same time, Anna-Kat makes strides at school when Franklin is stuck at home with the chickenpox, forcing her to make a new friend.

Original Airdate:  December 5, 2018

[One4Sorrow2TooBad]

Missed this one last night, was watching The Vikings episode that I missed last week. 

[Yeah No]

I really want to like Wendie Malick as the grandmother on this show but I still can't get there.  She's been in so many great roles that she seems underutilized here.  I'm still wondering whatever happened to Viv.  I hate it when shows set the audience up for a recurring character and then either kill them off like they did here with George Hamilton's character (Spencer), or drop them without any explanation.  This show has done that several times already.  There was another woman next door, she moved away, then Spencer, then Viv and now she's even MIA.  I wish the show would get its act together with the neighbors already.  This episode didn't suck but for some reason I'm thinking I liked last season better so far.

[readster]

12 minutes ago, Yeah No said:

I really want to like Wendie Malick as the grandmother on this show but I still can't get there.  She's been in so many great roles that she seems underutilized here.  I'm still wondering whatever happened to Viv.  I hate it when shows set the audience up for a recurring character and then either kill them off like they did here with George Hamilton's character (Spencer), or drop them without any explanation.  This show has done that several times already.  There was another woman next door, she moved away, then Spencer, then Viv and now she's even MIA.  I wish the show would get its act together with the neighbors already.  This episode didn't suck but for some reason I'm thinking I liked last season better so far.

I have to agree with all of this. Plus, why are they dropping characters like that? Reminds me back during Home Improvement's hay day when they built up all these "new" neighbors and then if one of them got cast on another show. They just dropped them, but in this case, they either feel they are done using them and either kill them off or just disappear. Plus, you would think after all this Oliver would get a clue from grandma and go: "Oh my God, I'm thinking and acting like you!" "I can't let that happen." 

[Aryanna]

I loved when Taylor told Oliver "Maybe Dan can loan you a starter cat."

[iMonrey]

Gregory Harrison was a big TV star back in the 80s. I thought he'd dropped off the face of the earth, I hadn't seen him in anything in ages, and now here he was guest-starring and looking great. I wonder why he doesn't work more, or maybe he does and whatever he's in I just don't watch.

I have to agree with about Wendie Malick. The character works on paper but the actress is so very well-known that her presence just feels like a stunt.

[theatremouse]

He's worked pretty consistently, but not in anything super-flashy.

I really identified with Anna-Kat when Franklin lifted his shirt and her eyes bugged out and she called for an adult. Really good facial expression there.

[readster]

9 hours ago, Aryanna said:

I loved when Taylor told Oliver "Maybe Dan can loan you a starter cat."

Funny how Taylor can see that Oliver is on the path of being like their grandmother's ex boyfriend. Yet, she can't get about "playing along" that she identified her as a niece and not a grand daughter. The writers really don't know how to play Taylor either book dumb, or dumb dumb.

[salmondean]

Once again, I think they made very good usage of Franklin in this ep and his line about having FOMO cracked me up (as did Anna Kat's face when he showed her his chickenpox). 

I don't often like Kathryn as a character, but I thought her plotline with Oliver and Taylor was actually pretty funny. I loved the scene where she shoved Taylor into the bushes and she just bounced back up very nonchalantly while looking at her phone. Kathryn's mini-breakdown over realizing that she had been broken up with ("my only rebound was a crow I befriended by feeding him berries through the window!") also made me laugh. 

Katy and Greg's plotline was cliche and not terribly interesting, but it still had some fun moments and those actors work very well together so I can't really complain. 

[salmondean]

On 12/7/2018 at 12:51 PM, iMonrey said:

Gregory Harrison was a big TV star back in the 80s. I thought he'd dropped off the face of the earth, I hadn't seen him in anything in ages, and now here he was guest-starring and looking great. I wonder why he doesn't work more, or maybe he does and whatever he's in I just don't watch.

He looks amazing!! He's such a handsome man, and he looked adorable with those cats. 

He's been relatively active lately; I know he was on some show called Chesapeake Shores (which I don't watch) last year for a string of eps and I remember seeing him in Rizzoli & Isles a couple of years ago, although he looked much better in American Housewife. It's the beard, man. He wears it well. 

[SnarkySheep]

As a side detail: Anyone else notice Anna Kat and her class was eating lunch outside?

In Connecticut. In December. 

I don't expect a show filmed in CA to get all the details of life in CT right, but seriously? There wasn't even a single autumn leaf on the Ottos' green, green lawn all through October and November. How hard would that be to do?

[Aryanna]

6 minutes ago, SnarkySheep said:

As a side detail: Anyone else notice Anna Kat and her class was eating lunch outside?

In Connecticut. In December. 

I don't expect a show filmed in CA to get all the details of life in CT right, but seriously? There wasn't even a single autumn leaf on the Ottos' green, green lawn all through October and November. How hard would that be to do?

This kinda stuff drives me crazy. On the opposite end, I hate when a movie/TV show is supposed to be taking place in the summer and people are wearing jackets, long sleeves, etc. You would be burning up in that attire.