S01.E09: Rage Against the Machine

[tessaray]

Air date: January 8, 2019

Quote

When Dan gets injured while covering D.J.'s vending machine route, the decision to sue the company could cost D.J. his job; Jackie is appalled when Becky seeks life coaching from her nemesis and No. 1 competitor, Rita Silver.

 

Trivia from the Roseanne Wiki:

• Although aired as the ninth episode, it was filmed as the eleventh and final episode of the season.

 

[Zoe]

Suppose I shouldn't be surprised they still don't know how to manage a windfall.

[mythoughtis]

Becky has the flattest stomach of any pregnant woman I know. Not one mention of it- although they did mention she’d slept with two of the employees.

They did acknowledge Dan being on Medicare. Why doesn’t he have a supplemental policy?  Why is this family so damn broke? Can’t any of them figure out how to get an education and get ahead? Why doesn’t  DJ use his GI bill benefits and go to college? 

[Bronzedog]

This one really dragged for me.  I didn’t really like it.  Don’t really know why.

[Snow Apple]

I was wondering if Becky was still pregnant. She looks thinner than ever and they talk about her being with men and doing internships like she's free as a bird with no responsibilities.

[Chaos Theory]

One of the big things for the family has always been spending what money they had and not having any money for emergencies.    There was at least one episode of “Roseanne” where the family had some extra money and both Dan and Roseanne spent it on luxuries.

[UYI]

I seriously wondered if this episode was supposed to air earlier than it did because no one mentioned Becky's pregnancy; how odd that it was actually supposed to be the LAST one of the season!

Disappointed that they didn't make out too well in that case, but at least DJ still has his job! (And Geena came off as MUCH more sympathetic than she ever has when she admitted to Darlene that he had been in therapy for two years but kept it a secret from the rest of the family. I felt for her there.)

I'm weirdly glad Jackie's Life Coach skills were finally called into question, hee!

Was the guy who played the lawyer (Peter Gallagher) also the guy in the GEICO commercials? The first thing I recognized was his voice! 

Edited January 9, 2019 by UYI

[Bronzedog]

1 minute ago, Chaos Theory said:

One of the big things for the family has always been spending what money they had and not having any money for emergencies.    There was at least one episode of “Roseanne” where the family had some extra money and both Dan and Roseanne spent it on luxuries.

They also got money from somewhere and they all went to Disneyland.

[ams1001]

11 minutes ago, UYI said:

Was the guy who played the lawyer (Peter Gallagher) also the guy in the GEICO commercials? The first thing I recognized was his voice! 

That's who that was! I couldn't think of his name!

[Annber03]

9 minutes ago, Chaos Theory said:

One of the big things for the family has always been spending what money they had and not having any money for emergencies.    There was at least one episode of “Roseanne” where the family had some extra money and both Dan and Roseanne spent it on luxuries.

Yep. And I can totally relate to that setup, because I know my family's done the same in the past on occasion. You get some unexpected extra money, if there's something you've been wanting for a while but could never afford before, it's very tempting to want to jump at the opportunity to buy it, because you don't know when you'll get that kind of money to use on something you want again. I agree that it's not a wise decision, no, but when you spend so much of your time always scrimping and saving every last penny, an opportunity to potentially splurge a little is exciting. 

I could very much relate to the conversations about struggling to pay the medical bills here. Dan's comment about the ambulance ride alone costing hundreds of dollars-yep. Been there. Sucks that the lawyer wasn't as helpful as they'd hoped he'd be, but I am glad they were able to get some help in the end. 

My mom had also commented on Becky's pregnancy. I like the idea of Jackie trying to help her a bit-it would be neat to see her looking out for Becky more and being there for her with all of this stuff. And I agree on the revelation about DJ being in therapy. 

I also liked Dan's sarcastic remarks about getting injured at work, and Jackie's unintentional joke about the vending machine people "nickel and dime-ing" others :p.

[Mu Shu]

This was stupid.  D.J. would have been fired, and the vending company would have no legal liability.  Dan has no business performing DJs job.  Affirmative defense.

is this becoming Shameless?  Depending on lawsuits to get by?  Lame.  Look, I know people living in tiny Podunk towns who are getting by pretty well.  Every member of this family is down and out in a mid sized town?  Jackie has the most nebulous job in a blue collar town, yet seems to be doing OK?

This isn’t funny anymore.  I’m sick of Sarah Gilbert.  I wish they would dump the rest of the cast and focus on Jackie and Becky.  Make them roommates, and let them have fun adventures.  This total insistence on poverty porn is old.  

[SHD]

I guess I'm alone in really liking this episode. I thought they worked a lot of the characters into the storyline without them feeling forced in just so they could be there.

1 hour ago, Zoe said:

Suppose I shouldn't be surprised they still don't know how to manage a windfall.

Did I misunderstand the end? I thought that after medical bills and paying the lawyer, they were only ahead $600 dollars or so. I guess it's a minor windfall, but I didn't think Dan was serious about the steaks. I figured that would be the money for Mark's art class.

 

59 minutes ago, mythoughtis said:

Why doesn’t  DJ use his GI bill benefits and go to college? 

Maybe they need his full-time paycheck just to keep their head above water? Seems like at least Becky is looking to better herself.

Speaking of Becky, since this was run out of order, I wonder if something happens and she's no longer pregnant but we haven't seen that episode yet.

1 minute ago, Mu Shu said:

This was stupid.  D.J. would have been fired, and the vending company would have no legal liability.  Dan has no business performing DJs job.  Affirmative defense.

Yep. I thought it was ridiculous that they would even offer to initially pay half his bills. I think their lawyer was right - he did as well as the situation allowed, probably better.

[Mu Shu]

I just caught this by chance.  It’s still miserable and depressing.  I won’t be wasting any more time on it.  

[Chaos Theory]

Not the best episode but I am still hoping for another season.   I do think the show has a lot of potential once it finds its groove and there are episodes where it does but this one isn’t one of them.   I did like the scene with Geena and Darlene and the episode might have been better if it focused on DJ instead of Dan.  

Edited January 9, 2019 by Chaos Theory

[Bronzedog]

I thought John Goodman's performance was kind of off.  I hope nothing's going on with him.  It's not the first time.

[LBS]

@SHD I laughed a lot at this episode too!  I guess I don’t take it as seriously as a sitcom as others. I was also tickled pink at a Santa’s Village reference! My favorite once every two year outing!

[kit.kat343]

Given Becky’s age, a miscarriage would be statistically quite likely.   I would imagine the primary reason Jackie would stop Becky from getting into a fistfight with the girl whose boyfriend she was trying to steal was that it would hurt the baby. Since she didn’t say anything, I’d assume Becky is no longer pregnant in the original season finale.  

Edited January 9, 2019 by kit.kat343

[Bastet]

If this was supposed to be the last episode of the season, why all the Christmas decorations?  I guess they were not originally slated to take the few-week break they did?  If it was indeed moved up, the context of Jackie and Becky’s conversation – which totally ignores impending motherhood in discussing her future - suggests Becky may no longer be pregnant.  Since I don’t think a baby is a good thing for her right now, I’d prefer an abortion to TV’s convenient miscarriage, but I highly doubt they’d go there, so I wonder what’s up.  I know, wait and see.

Speaking of Becky: “Work is where most people meet.  And it’s perfect, because you know they have jobs.”  I like that the reason Becky went with Jackie’s rival wasn’t anything about who was a better life coach, just that she thinks the whole idea is crap and simply wants the rubber stamp.  And then that Jackie – who recognizes many of her own flaws in Becky (even though I think some of those commonalities are forced) – actually does help her.  I’ve always loved their relationship, and with Becky positioned since the Roseanne revival as the new Aunt Jackie – now with or without baby by one-night-stand – I like the idea of what that can be with Adult Becky.

I like the vintage vending machines in the executive’s office.  Taking Darlene was a bad idea, but “Are you saying if my dad was trained, gravity would have behaved differently?” was very funny.  I can’t even go down the rabbit hole of the merits of their claim, the ethics of Peter Gallagher’s promise, etc. because that drives me crazy enough on legal shows, never mind a totally unrelated sitcom.  (But, yo, there has been a lawyer in the house, Dan; the local loser you wanted to handle Roseanne’s case against Meg Wellman.)

Geena bringing a reality check about David’s part in this employment situation was nice.  (But that was another scene where people are dressed to do battle with winter indoors; I’d take it as a statement on their inability to pay for proper heat, but not everyone is dressed that way.  I guess I’ll chalk it up – as I learned it was in a previous scene where Becky was similarly attired because she was heading right back out, but that context was cut – to the more-than-usual shortening of scenes they’ve been doing.

I love the continuity of what to do with unexpected money when you're poor – it’s so easy to say pay off bills, sock it away, etc., but experience has always taught the Conners that they can never stay ahead even if they get ahead for a moment, so they’ve spent multiple examples over the entire franchise’s run dealing with the tug between doing the conventionally prudent thing versus taking the rare opportunities to treat themselves when they come along.  The intersection of bad individual choices and institutionalized disadvantages is a hallmark of the franchise, and I always like to see it portrayed.

[Steph J]

2 hours ago, UYI said:

I'm weirdly glad Jackie's Life Coach skills were finally called into question, hee!

I'm just shocked than Lanford has not one but two life coaches in business.

I also wonder if the woman who came into the bar had any choice words for the boyfriend who is apparently just giving out his number to random women.  He seems like a real prize, no wonder she wants to hold on to him.

[UYI]

15 minutes ago, Bastet said:

If this was supposed to be the last episode of the season, why all the Christmas decorations?  I guess they were not originally slated to take the few-week break they did?  If it was indeed moved up, the context of Jackie and Becky’s conversation – which totally ignores impending motherhood in discussing her future - suggests Becky may no longer be pregnant.  Since I don’t think a baby is a good thing for her right now, I’d prefer an abortion to TV’s convenient miscarriage, but I highly doubt they’d go there, so I wonder what’s up.  I know, wait and see.

Speaking of Becky: “Work is where most people meet.  And it’s perfect, because you know they have jobs.”  I like that the reason Becky went with Jackie’s rival wasn’t anything about who was a better life coach, just that she thinks the whole idea is crap and simply wants the rubber stamp.  And then that Jackie – who recognizes many of her own flaws in Becky (even though I think some of those commonalities are forced) – actually does help her.  I’ve always loved their relationship, and with Becky positioned since the Roseanne revival as the new Aunt Jackie – now with or without baby by one-night-stand – I like the idea of what that can be with Adult Becky.

I like the vintage vending machines in the executive’s office.  Taking Darlene was a bad idea, but “Are you saying if my dad was trained, gravity would have behaved differently?” was very funny.  I can’t even go down the rabbit hole of the merits of their claim, the ethics of Peter Gallagher’s promise, etc. because that drives me crazy enough on legal shows, never mind a totally unrelated sitcom.  (But, yo, there has been a lawyer in the house, Dan; the local loser you wanted to handle Roseanne’s case against Meg Wellman.)

Geena bringing a reality check about David’s part in this employment situation was nice.  (But that was another scene where people are dressed to do battle with winter indoors; I’d take it as a statement on their inability to pay for proper heat, but not everyone is dressed that way.  I guess I’ll chalk it up – as I learned it was in a previous scene where Becky was similarly attired because she was heading right back out, but that context was cut – to the more-than-usual shortening of scenes they’ve been doing.

I love the continuity of what to do with unexpected money when you're poor – it’s so easy to say pay off bills, sock it away, etc., but experience has always taught the Conners that they can never stay ahead even if they get ahead for a moment, so they’ve spent multiple examples over the entire franchise’s run dealing with the tug between doing the conventionally prudent thing versus taking the rare opportunities to treat themselves when they come along.  The intersection of bad individual choices and institutionalized disadvantages is a hallmark of the franchise, and I always like to see it portrayed.

Great analysis as always, @Bastet; I always appreciate your summaries. (P.S.: I missed hearing your thoughts on the maybe final--but hopefully not--episode of Murphy Brown!)

[tessaray]

This episode had a few interesting moments but didn't really set well with me.  Darlene was annoying and I hated that no one even took DJ into consideration. (Well, until the end.) I'm glad Geena stuck up for him though.

This was the extra episode and filmed last - with the tree in the background I think they must have known it would be slotted in between somewhere.  But yeah, I was confused that Becky's pregnancy wasn't mentioned.  With only 11 episodes you wouldn't think continuity would be that hard.  

[UYI]

I have to say that the tree still being up doesn't bother me much, because my family has always kept theirs up until close to mid-January (my sister's birthday is January 13th; she used to like having her birthday presents under the tree, too). As my mom always says, Christmas technically isn't over until January 6th because of the Epiphany! :) 

Edited January 9, 2019 by UYI

[Annber03]

24 minutes ago, UYI said:

I have to say that the tree still being up doesn't bother me much, because my family has always kept theirs up until close to mid-January (my sister's birthday is January 13th; she used to like having her birthday presents under the tree, too). As my mom always says, Christmas technically isn't over until January 6th because of the Epiphany! :) 

I remember a joke about that on "Roseanne" once-Dan was getting out the Christmas lights and they were all tangled up, and somebody suggested he take the time to put them away more neatly or something like that, and Dan replied with, "Oh, right, like that's how I want to spend my Easter weekend." 

[bunnyblue]

3 hours ago, SHD said:

Speaking of Becky, since this was run out of order, I wonder if something happens and she's no longer pregnant but we haven't seen that episode yet.

That's what I'm thinking because she didn't even mention the baby when she & Jackie were planning her future schooling/career. 

I just love the relationship between Dan and Darlene so focusing on them helped in my enjoyment of this episode. Yes this one wasn't as strong as the last few episodes but I still found it entertaining. It was sweet of Dan to still pay the $500 for Mark's art school, even though it only left him with $600. That's a good man.

They finally gave DJ a bit more screen time! I adored Darlene playing the mother hen to her brother; even if she did give him old canned soup, LOL. I also laughed when Harris covered DJ's face with her scarf and then covered her own face with it so she could catch his cold. Those are the little sweet family moments that I've always loved about the Conners.

[sheetmoss]

2 hours ago, LBS said:

@SHD I laughed a lot at this episode too!  I guess I don’t take it as seriously as a sitcom as others. I was also tickled pink at a Santa’s Village reference! My favorite once every two year outing!

That, and mentioning Chicago artist Tony Fitzpatrick.

Writers let me down on Roseanne continuity  w/Dan's line about a lawyer never being in their house ...there was one in it when they were suing Mrs Wellman

    $$ Outcome wasn't great then either

 S2 Ep 21 Mar 20 1990 - Roseanne and Dan contemplate a lawsuit after Mrs. Wellman rear-ends Roseanne in her car.

Edited January 9, 2019 by sheetmoss

[gesundheit]

I liked the Becky story in this one but wasn't so sure about the Dan story. It felt like his rant at the end to the lawyer was more of an audience "we hate lawyers, aren't they the worst" claptrap because, frankly, the man never PROMISED six figures, he said he thought that was possible. I thought the family was just fantasizing about what they would do if it happened, not actually making plans. As others have mentioned above, the whole thing was a bit off since Dan wasn't even an employee of the vendor company.

[peacheslatour]

9 hours ago, sheetmoss said:

That, and mentioning Chicago artist Tony Fitzpatrick.

Writers let me down on Roseanne continuity  w/Dan's line about a lawyer never being in their house ...there was one in it when they were suing Mrs Wellman

    $$ Outcome wasn't great then either

 S2 Ep 21 Mar 20 1990 - Roseanne and Dan contemplate a lawsuit after Mrs. Wellman rear-ends Roseanne in her car.

I was so hoping the lawyer was going to be Stephen Root.

[AgentRXS]

This episode wasn't my favorite, but I did get a few giggles in. 

I thought the Dan plot was weak, and Darlene was annoying as hell. Like you all have said, he wasn't even an employee, the company owes him nothing.

Loved seeing Jackie focusing on her work . They are finally touching at the similarities between young Jackie and present-day Becky. I think Jackie will really be able to help her turn her life around.

I was highly annoyed with the daiquiri scene. What you are not going to do is come to my job, call me trash, and dare to throw a drink at me because your boyfriend forgot he was in a relationship. I would have wiped the floor with that girl. Becky clearly didn't know he had a gf, and so it was on him to not give Becky his number if he valued his relationship. I loathe women blaming other women for their boyfriend's cheating. Its 2019, time to put that behavior to rest.

It is kind of irritating how paint-by-numbers the writers have made this spin-off. It still feels like rich people are writing their stereotypical vision of what the working class looks like. There has to be talented writers who come from a working class background that can bring back some of the realism. Poor people aren't down on their luck all the freaking time. This show really needs to lighten up a bit next year. 

Edited January 9, 2019 by AgentRXS

[UYI]

9 minutes ago, AgentRXS said:

I was highly annoyed with the daiquiri scene. What you are not going to do is come to my job, call me trash, and dare to throw a drink at me because your boyfriend forgot he was in a relationship. I would have wiped the floor with that girl. Becky clearly didn't know he had a gf, and so it was on him to not give Becky his number if he valued his relationship. I loathe women blaming other women for their boyfriend's cheating. Its 2019, time to put that behavior to rest.

 

I hated that too. I would have laughed if Jackie had stopped Becky from beating her up only to go do it herself, though, lol. 

[DoubleUTeeEff]

13 hours ago, SHD said:

Did I misunderstand the end? I thought that after medical bills and paying the lawyer, they were only ahead $600 dollars or so. I guess it's a minor windfall, but I didn't think Dan was serious about the steaks. I figured that would be the money for Mark's art class.

IIRC after paying the bills AND the art class, they had $600. I say let the man have his steaks. He's recently widowed, lives with his daughter and two grandchildren, has to work into his old age and broke his arm trying to help out his son. I'm always surprised by the high and mighty attitude people have about poor people spending money on "luxuries." I'd like to see how people like that would do without the occasional treat or entertainment or night out. It's demoralizing.

I'm not sure the lawyer really did anything that horrible. He gave them some over the top possibilities but the Conners were the ones counting their chickens before the eggs hatched. And like he said, he did get them a better deal than half.

I liked how Becky said she wouldn't waste a daiquiri and Darlene told Harris that she could keep thinking about college. Fairly solid in the joke department but not the most remarkable episode.

[Aliconehead]

45 minutes ago, AgentRXS said:

This episode wasn't my favorite, but I did get a few giggles in. 

I thought the Dan plot was weak, and Darlene was annoying as hell. Like you all have said, he wasn't even an employee, the company owes him nothing.

Loved seeing Jackie focusing on her work . They are finally touching at the similarities between young Jackie and present-day Becky. I think Jackie will really be able to help her turn her life around.

I was highly annoyed with the daiquiri scene. What you are not going to do is come to my job, call me trash, and dare to throw a drink at me because your boyfriend forgot he was in a relationship. I would have wiped the floor with that girl. Becky clearly didn't know he had a gf, and so it was on him to not give Becky his number if he valued his relationship. I loathe women blaming other women for their boyfriend's cheating. Its 2019, time to put that behavior to rest.

It is kind of irritating how paint-by-numbers the writers have made this spin-off. It still feels like rich people are writing their stereotypical vision of what the working class looks like. There has to be talented writers who come from a working class background that can bring back some of the realism. Poor people aren't down on their luck all the freaking time. This show really needs to lighten up a bit next year. 

36 minutes ago, UYI said:

I hated that too. I would have laughed if Jackie had stopped Becky from beating her up only to go do it herself, though, lol. 

I agree.  I have had this happen in real life and I told the woman the same thing.  I asked, he lied, I did not know, this is on him.  After she screamed at me a few, she realized I was right and apologized.  This is a stupid trope and needs to be retired

[bigskygirl]

What the heck with Dan covering for DJ on his route. He had no business doing that and then expecting to win a lawsuit against the company. I also doubt his medical expenses was around $30,000 with $6000.00 after Medicare took care of things. And why is Dan paying for his grandson's art class while his son could lose his job because of Dan's injury and lawsuit. Harris can get off her lazy whining behind and get a job, loans, scholarships and grants to pay for college. I love it when DJ's wife pointed out no one in the family was thinking about DJ. The reason why Dan is still paying off two mortgages was the fact he and Roseanne did not think when it came to buying the motorcycle shop leading to a second mortgage, quitting his city job, and only getting the one prison job because of his minority friend Chuck. Add the fact Darlene quits a half way decent paying job with benefits and expects to win a lawsuit after Dan was doing a job he had no experience doing. Sorry Darlene and Dan, your stupidity once again cause you to fail.

[Snow Apple]

I'm glad others mentioned Dan doing DJ's job. I'm sure the company would pay them off if Dan was a customer putting coins in, but now they can claim he was tampering with a machine he knows nothing about. They're lucky the company didn't counter sue.

Edited January 9, 2019 by Snow Apple

[tessaray]

I wonder if DJ's job is like newspaper delivery, where you work for the company as an independent contractor type of thing.  The company guy didn't seem upset that some unknown guy was doing the actual work, just that he hadn't been trained.  

[SHD]

1 hour ago, DoubleUTeeEff said:

IIRC after paying the bills AND the art class, they had $600. I say let the man have his steaks. He's recently widowed, lives with his daughter and two grandchildren, has to work into his old age and broke his arm trying to help out his son. I'm always surprised by the high and mighty attitude people have about poor people spending money on "luxuries." I'd like to see how people like that would do without the occasional treat or entertainment or night out. It's demoralizing.

Ah, thanks. I missed where she said that the art classes were paid for before the extra $600. I wouldn't deny someone like Dan his luxuries, it was just that steak every day for a month seemed extreme, no matter how much you like steak. At least spread out $600 worth of steaks - ha ha!

[FormerMod-a1]

23 minutes ago, SHD said:

I wouldn't deny someone like Dan his luxuries, it was just that steak every day for a month seemed extreme, no matter how much you like steak

That's kind of what I was thinking, too.  Sure, maybe have $200 worth of steaks - that's still a lot of steak! - and use the remainder to pay down any debt or loans they may have, like credit card balances or auto loans, or any overdue bills. 

[iMonrey]

This was a weak episode to return to after the holiday hiatus. Seems to have been written very quickly. I would have sworn it was meant to air earlier in the season since there was no mention of Becky's pregnancy - how is it we were able to determine it was actually meant to air later? In either case I can see why the network wouldn't want to either begin or end the season with this particular episode. 

Quote

 I loathe women blaming other women for their boyfriend's cheating. Its 2019, time to put that behavior to rest.

Amen to that. I see it all the time. Wife finds out husband cheated and focuses all her anger on the other woman rather than her cheating husband. Same with girls who find out their boyfriends cheated. It's such a weird mental misdirect, it's like the women are so desperate not to be alone they manage to rationalize this in their brains that the men can't help themselves because they're men and therefore it's always the wicked wiles of women who are to blame and men are just helpless under their power. It's so pathetic.

[StaceyNotStacie]

I have a feeling that Becky is going to have the longest pregnancy ever. If this comes back next year, I wouldn’t be surprised if she was still pregnant, considering that we’re on our third week with the Christmas tree. Either that, or she’ll have a sorased toddler. 

I really like the dynamic between Jackie and Becky. While I enjoy most of the other characters, they’re my favorite of the newer version of this series. 

[BeachDays]

Definitely wasn’t one of the better eps-   I still enjoyed it bc I Iove hanging out with this family but the structure should have been a bit different. Honestly I don’t see why Darlene was so mad and gung ho right away at the vending machine guy, and lawyer-happy -  that doesn’t seem to be her personality.   Also I feel like D.J. could have had more to do in this ep versus Darlene.   It was nice to see him in the beginning and the scarf thing with Harris was funny.  

I did like Jackie confronting Becky about her needing guys for validation-  she might not have brought up the pregnancy bc she wants Becky to do this for herself.  

I also liked how much Mark loves art, just like David.   And I’m glad Harris has aspirations to go to college.   The “Grandpa I love you more than Mom” bits were funny.  

[Annber03]

44 minutes ago, BeachDays said:

The “Grandpa I love you more than Mom” bits were funny.  

"Darlene, do you want anything?"

"Yeah, the love of my children back." 

[peacheslatour]

1 hour ago, aquarian1 said:

That's kind of what I was thinking, too.  Sure, maybe have $200 worth of steaks - that's still a lot of steak! - and use the remainder to pay down any debt or loans they may have, like credit card balances or auto loans, or any overdue bills. 

Omaha Steaks always has some kind of deal going usually for around $60.00

[Lunula]

I still don't understand WTF happened to Jerry Garcia Conner. Did the fishing boat capsize? He is dead? Enquiring minds want to know.

Also, and I could be wrong because I didn't watch the original Roseanne a lot in the final seasons, but didn't Jackie have a son also?

Edited January 9, 2019 by Lunula
Spelling.

[gesundheit]

I pretty much think Jackie's kid was written out of the reboot entirely, and that Jerry (only having had one off-hand mention last season) was written out of the reboot-of-the-reboot. (All of which is fine by me.)

[Bastet]

When we were going to be getting a season eleven of Roseanne, one of the executive producers (maybe Bruce Helford) said they'd get into Jerry's and Andy's situations in that season, they just didn't have time for them in the first batch of episodes.  But when Roseanne was canceled and The Conners was greenlit, one of them (maybe Helford again) said they haven't decided whether or not Andy exists.

We already have the grandkids added to the original characters, plus Geena, and now Darlene's boss/boyfriend and Emilio (Becky's baby daddy), so I doubt they'll ever want to actually cast Jerry and give time to another character, but there's the possibility we might briefly hear about him again.  Andy, though, we may never even hear about, let alone see, because he may be retconned out of existence.

[iMonrey]

Quote

Also I feel like D.J. could have had more to do in this ep versus Darlene.   It was nice to see him in the beginning and the scarf thing with Harris was funny.  

I hate to say it but I think it speaks to the show's awareness of Michael Fishman's limitations as an actor. He has not really had a story or an episode that revolves around him. Here would have been the obvious opportunity. Instead he appeared in one opening scene and then disappeared entirely, only to have Darlene take up the reins in driving the plot. That seems like an odd choice if the story is about DJ's job. At the very least he should have been present when they went to see his employer and/or when they first spoke with the attorney. His participation on this series has felt more obligatory than anything else.

[UYI]

I will say that kind of bugged me when Becky said she had always wanted to work in a museum. When she decided to possibly go back to school again in season 8, she talked about how interested she was in medical school. I certainly don't expect her to be thinking of that NOW, and I know some of the things long-time viewers would remember haven't really been coming up at all this time around, but that rang more than a bit false to me.

And I guess the idea of her studying hotel management that was brought up at the end of the last season has been dropped, too! 

[Marley]

Since when can someone else just do someone else’s job like that when they aren’t employed by that company? That annoyed me and ruined the whole episode for me lol.

[BeachDays]

Another line I loved-   “You think I’m pretty?  Just kidding.   I know I’m pretty.”  

[ams1001]

18 hours ago, UYI said:

I have to say that the tree still being up doesn't bother me much, because my family has always kept theirs up until close to mid-January (my sister's birthday is January 13th; she used to like having her birthday presents under the tree, too). As my mom always says, Christmas technically isn't over until January 6th because of the Epiphany! :) 

I had these gel window-sticker things on my storm door for Christmas and just took them down on my way in tonight. I still have a little metal snowman family in my window; they have some holly painted on them but they're generic-wintery enough (and I'm on the second floor so you can't see the details very well) that I'll leave them for a while longer. Last year I think I left them until March.

1 hour ago, Marley said:

Since when can someone else just do someone else’s job like that when they aren’t employed by that company? That annoyed me and ruined the whole episode for me lol.

Right? I'm friendly with the manager of a store I worked at years ago, and I still work for the company but I'm not in the stores anymore. I was there one night and jokingly offered to help out because he had had a couple people call out sick, but I'm not an employee of that store specifically so the insurance wouldn't cover me for that. (I still straighten stuff while I shop; I can't help myself.)

[janie jones]

8 hours ago, bigskygirl said:

And why is Dan paying for his grandson's art class while his son could lose his job because of Dan's injury and lawsuit.

Don't David and Blue both have jobs?  Can't the cost be split between David and Darlene?

4 hours ago, UYI said:

I will say that kind of bugged me when Becky said she had always wanted to work in a museum. When she decided to possibly go back to school again in season 8, she talked about how interested she was in medical school. I certainly don't expect her to be thinking of that NOW, and I know some of the things long-time viewers would remember haven't really been coming up at all this time around, but that rang more than a bit false to me.

And I guess the idea of her studying hotel management that was brought up at the end of the last season has been dropped, too! 

It makes sense to me.  I've always wanted to own a bookstore.  I've never made any effort to do that, and my actual job that I got a degree for is completely different, but I've still always wanted to do it.

I've been known to wait until the MLK day off to take down my Christmas tree.