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S01.E08: O Sister, Where Art Thou?


tessaray
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Air date: December 11, 2018

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Becky helps Harris keep a secret from Darlene, which causes a rift between the sisters; Jackie supports Peter with his project; Dan and an old friend reunite. 

 

Katey Sagal guest stars. 

 

 

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In the original show, Jackie would often try to keep the kids secrets from Roseanne. She was never successful. It’s kind of amusing to see Becky in that aunt role. Couldn’t decide if Becky was seriously giving Harris drinking advice or just trying to be amusing without getting involved. 

Jackie must be the least successful life coach in the entire world. Who would take advice and encouragement from someone who cuts a turnip with a rock, and puts up with Peter? 

Edited by mythoughtis
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2 minutes ago, mythoughtis said:

In the original show, Jackie would often try to keep the kids secrets from Roseanne. She was never successful. It’s kind of amusing to see Becky in that aunt role. Couldn’t decide if Becky was seriously giving Harris drinking advice or just trying to be amusing without getting involved. 

Jackie must be the least successful life coach in tne entire world. Who would take advice and encouragement from someone who cuts a turnip with a rock, and puts up with Peter? 

Maybe. But it's nice to see her reach her limit with Peter. Dude is a piece of work.

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Interesting that Katie Segal was on Eight Simple Rules for Marrying My Teenaged Daughter and stepped in as the star when John Ritter died leaving a hole just as Sara Gilbert has taken over the Rosanne Show. Karie was able to keep it going for a season or so until she decamped for better shows. The premise of 8 Simple Rules was womanizing Jack Tripper from Threes Company has grown up with daughters of his own. When Ritter died, the show jumped the shark just like the Conners has. 8 Simple Rules was haunted by John Ritter; the Conners is haunted by Rosanne.

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17 minutes ago, Concerned said:

Interesting that Katie Segal was on Eight Simple Rules for Marrying My Teenaged Daughter and stepped in as the star when John Ritter died leaving a hole just as Sara Gilbert has taken over the Rosanne Show. Karie was able to keep it going for a season or so until she decamped for better shows. The premise of 8 Simple Rules was womanizing Jack Tripper from Threes Company has grown up with daughters of his own. When Ritter died, the show jumped the shark just like the Conners has. 8 Simple Rules was haunted by John Ritter; the Conners is haunted by Rosanne.

8 simple rules dad was not Jack Tripper.  

Loved this episode.  I love Becky and Darlene together.  They are brutal with each other, but you can still feel the love. 

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I absolutely love the Connors.  The retool gives it the feel of the first few seasons of Roseanne- minus small children of course.  Thankfully/ because this Conner generation of young ones doesn’t interest me. I’m not feeling that it’s jumped the shark - except Jackie’s little Viking lunacy was over the top. But hopefully Peter is gone.  

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Katie Sagal is way too hot for an overweight sad sack widower like Dan.   I cringed when they had her say she couldn't keep her eyes off him.   She was well paired with Ron Perlman on Sons of Anarchy.    

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Wait, is Matthew Broderick’s character living with Jackie? I though Bev was...then where is she? Honestly I really can’t stand this storyline, it’s such a lazily-written plot and MB is just terrible (in this) that I don’t know what they were thinking.

Katey Segal is clearly drinking her daily dosage of virgin’s blood because the woman looks ageless! And talk about immediate chemistry with John Goodman. I could see her friendship with Dan evolve over time if she’s given a good script and isn’t written to be a shrew like Roseanne evolved into.

I’m conflicted about Becky being the dark horse MVP over the last two seasons. While I think she has the most interesting storyline now I feel its difficult to reconcile present-day broken woman Becky with original-recipe Becky I grew up with.

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If the Conners doesn't come back, someone needs to offer Katey and John a show together. They had great chemistry.

She is probably way too hot for Dan, but then she was way too hot for Ed O'Neill's Al Bundy, so meh. I'm glad they are taking the realistic/high road approach and not have Dan immediately start dating again. He would never move on from Roseanne Conner that fast. The show could have easily had him move on with the way hotter Katey like it was nothing. Goes to show that Sarah still respects the character/legacy of Roseanne Conner. 

Darlene and Becky's relationships are very much like their mother and aunts was, even though they are less co-dependent. You can feel the love even though they can be pretty brutal when they get upset with each other.  

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How far along in her pregnancy is Becky supposed to be? Her tummy looked completely flat in the cropped sweater in the scene where the cop dropped off Harris. At first I thought this was an out-of-order episode, but then Darlene mentioned the pregnancy when they were playing pool.

I absolutely loved that Dan is not ready to move on yet. I know most people tell widows/widowers that their dead spouse would want them to find someone else and be happy, but I think there's something so beautiful when a person takes their time to experience all stages of grief and honor their spouse's memory.

I know a lot of people compare Darlene to Roseanne, but Roseanne would have doled out swift and unrelenting punishment if one of her teenage daughters were caught drinking in the woods. Harris is still an out-of-control brat, and if this were real life and not a sitcom, it could end very badly for her.

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As always, I love Becky and Darlene together; their entire pool game conversation is made of win.  (I don't love how the fact Ben is her fucking boss never seems to occur to anyone questioning/mocking Darlene’s relationship with him.)  Aunt Becky as the new Aunt Jackie is fun.  And I love Darlene telling the cop, when she finds out what happened, to ignore the screaming that will later be reported coming from the house. 

Darlene sending a crossword puzzle and candy care package when Mark died is a nice bit of humor in the midst of the very real issue that Becky losing her husband to death caused Darlene to lose her husband to abandonment, so Darlene was not there for her despite Becky’s explicit request (which would have really cost Becky), but of course she wasn’t, because she’d been left with a kid and a baby on the way.The dynamic changing, and then changing again, about who needs who, was so well done, and so true to the original series.  And there was fun stuff throughout; their “gross” reaction to the “I’m up for either” guy was great, and “There is no way to miss that shot; you should get a brain scan immediately.”

Good for Jackie finally asserting herself against Peter’s abusive tactics, and in far less time than it took her to do so with Fisher.  Progress!

I liked Katey Sagal in this; I know who she is, but I’ve never really watched her in anything.  I initially found her character tacky hitting on a man who just lost his wife of nearly 50 years, but then she handled herself very well when he said he wasn’t into it, and I turned around on her - she gave it a shot, and respected his feelings.  They may further develop a friendship, it may transition down the road, it may never amount to anything more than shared interests and chats during her shift, and any of that is okay.  I’m glad it’s way too early for Dan (I love him twirling his wedding ring while he turns her down); while it’s true that widowed men tend to enter into another relationship sooner than widowed women, I don’t want this show to go there too quickly. 

I loved Becky’s face while watching them in the initial scene at the bar, but I'm slightly conflicted on how I feel about Jackie, Becky, and Darlene all just focusing on how Dan is oblivious and cluing him in; there should be, from at least one of them, some reflexive push-back to the very idea of him dating, but, then again, maybe it's that they all know he's not there, so they're not worried about it, and they'll deal with their conflicting emotions when it does happen.

Random notes:

Why is Mary there as Dan makes the grandkids their breakfast and sends them off to school, when D.J. and Geena don’t live there?  Maybe Mary just spent the night because they both had appointments in the morning or something.

The “trading them zinc, nickel, and copper” joke should have been left alone; don’t hit us over the head with “someday they’ll be called coins” to make sure the masses get it.

Harris keeping her coat on instead of coming in and hanging it on the old coat hook like the characters all routinely did in the original series distracted me.  Becky did, too, later, although with her it could just be that she was coming in and heading right back out, but she did it yet again after that, although she was doing laundry that time so maybe it was just because she was out there in that less-insulated service porch, but then Harris also had her coat on inside the house later.  It’s weird; are we supposed to infer they can’t afford heat?

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2 hours ago, Steff said:

8 simple rules dad was not Jack Tripper.  

John Ritter's IMDB Page

 

I took the OP's comment to mean the 8 Rules character was like Jack Ritter, not literally Jack Ritter (the characters' names were different, for one thing...).

Edited by QQQQ
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I enjoyed the episode. My only issue was Becky seemingly blaming Darlene for her drinking and not acknowledging that Darlene had her own major issues to deal with. The end of the argument should have been, “We could have helped each other.”

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I think several of you agree with me that Lecy has been awesome. Love the Becky and Darlene scenes.  Laurie and John are of course great actors. Seeing Dan get flirted with by Segal,  that is a difficult position to be in, still grieving but ready to move on. I want to see better things for for Aunt Jackie, she deserves some better writing.
 

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Another fun episode and I am hoping the show gets renewed.  The show definitely isn’t “haunted” by the lack of Roseanne except in that Dan isn’t ready to date which I thought was a good move even though John Goodman abd Katey  Sagal had great chemistry.   Loved the early scenes with Ben meeting Becky as well.  He will fit in with the family.

Edited by Chaos Theory
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13 hours ago, SparklesBitch said:

Whenever I see Katey Segal in something and she starts speaking, all I can think of is Leela. :) 

Heh....all I can think of is Peggy Wanker Bundy!  Anyway, I'm hoping for more of Louise, she and Dan would make a great couple in slow due time.  Dan had me with the wringing of his wedding band, saying how he was still in love with his wife.

Again....you can be schlumpy/old/fat, etc. but if you add swagger to it?  Gets you the draws every time!!  (Looks around)....Mr. Vixenstud isn't sex symbol material, but the way he makes me feel is like being with Idris Elba.

Harris reminds me of Becky and that's not a compliment; I wanted to smack the shit out of her for talking to her mother like that.  Damned kids grow body hair and think they know every fucking thing!

Hoping that next year brings D.J. storylines....surely he can do more than take Mary to school and kiss Geena.

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15 hours ago, mythoughtis said:

So Mark died when Harris was 5. Harris is supposedly 15,  though she should be 20+ right? So we are to think Becky has been a widow for 10 years since her early 30s.  What did she do with her life in her 20s?

Yep, Harris was born in the early part of 1997, so she should be almost 22. I kind of wish they had kept her that legit age, because at 21/22 she could be having kids of her own, and it would be interesting to see Darlene as a young grandma. 

I'm really curious about the Becky situation, too. How did Mark die 10 years ago, what were he and Becky doing in their lives at that time period, and, hell, what were they doing in their lives even before then, in the years after Roseanne went off the air? It sounds like they were still in love, so I guess even if they were working a string of middling jobs and unsuccessfully trying for a baby, they were at least happy. It would be interesting if maybe he did get a good job as a mechanic or whatever and when he died, Becky lost her primary source of income, her healthcare coverage, her home, etc. That would add to her grief spiral and derailing. 

12 hours ago, Bastet said:

Why is Mary there as Dan makes the grandkids their breakfast and sends them off to school, when D.J. and Geena don’t live there?  Maybe Mary just spent the night because they both had appointments in the morning or something.

I've wondered about this, too. Maybe D.J. and Geena start work really early and it's customary for Mary to spend her mornings at Grandpa's house before school? Or maybe they live across the street and Mary bounces seamlessly back and forth between the houses, dropping in for meals a lot, etc, like my BFF's kids do (my BFF's father-in-law lives right across the street).

I was a big Roseanne fan back in the day and I'm really enjoying The Conners. I heard that this was meant to be a limited-run show, like 13 episodes, and I hope that's not true--I hope it comes back for another season and maybe longer. I think there's a lot of potential here. 

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Katey Sagal looks fantastic for her age. At first I thought there was no way she and Dan could have been in the same class but in real life she's only 2 years younger than him! Wow. Whatever she's taking, I'll have some of it.

And yeah . . . if she was crushing on Dan all the way back in high school she may very well see him as she did then despite his aging. 

Good episode. I really like how the show seems to be focusing on Becky and Darlene and suspect they're testing the waters for maybe losing Jackie and Dan somewhere down the road. 

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Loved Katey Sagal, think she and Dan would be a good match. And good on the show for not going there . . . yet. You don't start dating again a few months after your wife of 40 years dies. Loved how clueless Dan was about flirting. The bit with him and Jackie at the end was great also.  I enjoyed the re-enacting how Vikings lived, especially as it finally got Jackie to stand up to the weasel. I wasn't crazy about the Darlene and Becky scene in the pool hall. For one thing, when Becky said -I wrote you, and Darlene said -I sent a care package --I was like, come on, you two weren't living on opposite coasts at the time. Landford is in the same state as Chicago, in fact I think its supposed to be not that far away -1-2 hours tops. And when did this happen, the 1930s? What happened to phone calls etc? I know it was a convienent way to explain it, but better to have Becky say she didn't feel comfortable actually asking.

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16 hours ago, mythoughtis said:

Jackie must be the least successful life coach in the entire world. Who would take advice and encouragement from someone who cuts a turnip with a rock, and puts up with Peter

In my experience, life coaches tend to be people who aren't actually good at anything else! It belongs with beauty products consultant, real estate agent and car salesperson as a career for people who don't have a talent that is a real career.

15 hours ago, Nordly Beaumont said:

Favorite lines:

Darlene "Don't bother, she's pregnant"

Becky "And she's nasty"

I was with the dude - "So?"  Loved that he said it.

2 hours ago, DoubleUTeeEff said:

Agreed with everyone that I hope Katey Sagal is a recurring character. I would enjoy if she and Dan became friends and talked about "back in the day." You're a million years old, you know what I'm talking about.

When I posted last week that when they got around to Dan finding a love interest it would get interesting, I didn't realize it would happen so fast. What I liked about it was how nonjudgmental the family was that a woman was interested in Dan. I thought we might be subject to a lot of, "How could you! Mom just died X ago!" And we weren't. Thank you.

I like Darlene and Becky. Honestly, while an occasional line or reaction doesn't hit me right, this feels like a real family. I think about the characters as people vs. characters. That doesn't happen often.

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38 minutes ago, Anosmia said:

I'm really curious about the Becky situation, too. How did Mark die 10 years ago, what were he and Becky doing in their lives at that time period, and, hell, what were they doing in their lives even before then, in the years after Roseanne went off the air? It sounds like they were still in love, so I guess even if they were working a string of middling jobs and unsuccessfully trying for a baby, they were at least happy. It would be interesting if maybe he did get a good job as a mechanic or whatever and when he died, Becky lost her primary source of income, her healthcare coverage, her home, etc. That would add to her grief spiral and derailing.  

I have an entire scenario in my head that is probably best left for a fan fiction thread - Becky and Mark were stuck in dead-end jobs and Becky couldn't help resenting Mark, even though she also desperately loved him. Mark sleeping on the couch and Becky finding him there one morning, assuming he was just being lazy and then realizing he was dead. Dan and Roseanne trying to figure out how he died even as Becky shuts down and says it doesn't matter - he's just dead. Finally they learn he had an undiagnosed heart condition. Becky asks if that's supposed to make her feel better. She and Roseanne fight about her drinking, and how any time Roseanne tries to comfort her, Becky pushes her away. Becky saying that Roseanne can never know what it's like to lose a husband, even if Dan probably sometimes wishes he was dead. Roseanne and Becky not talking, with Dan caught in the middle, and finally only making some peace when they hear Mark's car is about to be taken away. Roseanne goes over to Becky's place and sees that Becky has been sleeping in it, because it's hard to be in the house. Becky breaking down as she tells Roseanne that she'd been so tired of her life going nowhere, how she'd been worried she and Mark were going to start hating each other, how she had just wanted something to happen, some kind of change. Breaking down in the arms of her parents as she says she got what she'd wanted - something had happened. 

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Impressive. You’re really thought this out! (I like it, though.)

I haven’t posted in this sub forum before—just stopping by to see the general opinion. The show felt clunky at first, but I think it’s finding its footing. (Which normally means cancellation, right? I have no idea as to ratings or anything like that.)

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39 minutes ago, gesundheit said:

Didn't Darlene's baby arrive during the final season of the original, which is now not considered canon anyway? I just don't think of that baby as Harris.

Yes, but her pregnancy was announced near the end of season 8, in the spring of 1996...and then Harris was born in the spring of 1997. That's one long-ass pregnancy.

The same thing happened when Roseanne got pregnant with Jerry in the beginning of season 7, in the fall of 1994, but didn't give birth until Halloween of 1995, during season 8. 

At least Jackie's pregnancy with Andy was only during season 6 (of course, a lot of that had to do with just. how. BIG. Laurie got in such a short time). 

Edited by UYI
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In allot  if ways Mark was a better provider then David was.  He was never the sharpest tool in the draw but he always had a steady job And took care of Becky.  I could see them trying for a baby and since they didn’t have insurance saving up for one of those fancy baby doctors to figure out why...but then well.....when Mark dies Becky goes into a tail spin and reaches out to Darlene but since she is married to Mark’s brother who is in a tailspin of his own the two sisters don’t communicate as they should and both lives fall apart

 

End scene

Edited by Chaos Theory
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Just now, Porterest said:

Impressive. You’re really thought this out! (I like it, though.)

I haven’t posted in this sub forum before—just stopping by to see the general opinion. The show felt clunky at first, but I think it’s finding its footing. (Which normally means cancellation, right? I have no idea as to ratings or anything like that.)

Thanks. It's probably a tad melodramatic, but I prefer something like that type of passing to drugs, after Roseanne met the same fate. 

The ratings are, to me, decent, especially since so many have been trying to kill off the show. Whether they will fall more or whether they will be stable or whether ABC will bow to all the pressure campaigns, I don't know. 

https://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/tag/the-conners-ratings/

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Wish it was Vicki Lawerence reprising her role as Phyllis Zimmer instead of Katey as a new ex high school crush. 

I had a scary thought... Maybe they never call back to the original show because then they'd have to pay the writers who created them?

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4 minutes ago, Mmmfloorpie said:

Wish it was Vicki Lawerence reprising her role as Phyllis Zimmer instead of Katey as a new ex high school crush. 

I had a scary thought... Maybe they never call back to the original show because then they'd have to pay the writers who created them?

Vicki has a new sitcom on FOX - The Cool Kids. 

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14 hours ago, AgentRXS said:

If the Conners doesn't come back, someone needs to offer Katey and John a show together. They had great chemistry.

She is probably way too hot for Dan, but then she was way too hot for Ed O'Neill's Al Bundy, so meh. I'm glad they are taking the realistic/high road approach and not have Dan immediately start dating again. He would never move on from Roseanne Conner that fast. The show could have easily had him move on with the way hotter Katey like it was nothing. Goes to show that Sarah still respects the character/legacy of Roseanne Conner. 

I agree with you, but I've always heard that widowers who were married a long time are quick to pair up again, because they're not accustomed to being alone. Maybe that doesn't apply as much when there's a houseful of kids and grandkids and an endless parade of assorted other relatives -- but I'd be fine with Dan getting together with Katey Sagal's character by the end of the season.

Edited by Jillybean
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I think this was the most coherent episode so far, even if it wasn't my favorite. All the main stories of the season were interwoven and none of them felt forced. There were also a number of moments that just plain made me laugh, like when Darlene made Ben leave out the side door with her because he wouldn't be able to handle meeting two Conners in one day, or when Dan and Katey Sagal were talking about getting to see "the Two Tops" or "One Dog Night." Even the storyline that annoyed me most (wacky Jackie and the ever-creepy performance from Matthew Broderick) had some good lines and seemed to finally come to an end. 

I have mixed feelings about them having Becky talk to Harris about all the ways to avoid getting caught by the cops, as I don't remember her being that "bad" back then, even if she had her moments. 

I'm glad they are still focusing on the complex sister relationship with Becky and Darlene, because it has so many layers. I appreciate the moments where it's more than just a one-liner factory.

Sagal had instant chemistry with John Goodman and as always, managed to make the character seem real, rather than just making me think, "It's Katey Sagal." I'm glad they are keeping Dan alone for now but I could see them working as a couple in the future. 

6 hours ago, Vixenstud said:

Hoping that next year brings D.J. storylines....surely he can do more than take Mary to school and kiss Geena.

I'd like to just see him even interact with the family in a way beyond standing around...

Edited by Pete Martell
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