Josh-da-man

Presumably, Dan and Roseanne bought the house in the late 70s or early 80s. If they did, they would have bought it for peanuts. Probably in the $20,000-$40,000 range. That would have been before real estate prices started going apeshit and people working shit jobs cold still afford to buy houses. In theory, they should have been able to pay it off early. Their payments would probably only have been around $200 or $300 a month.

I would assume that Dan and Roseanne had either been re-mortgaging their house or using it as collateral to take out loans. Medical bills, legal bills, bad financial decisions (bike shop), etc.

windom

Lanford is supposedly based on Elgin, IL. From Wikipedia entry on Elgin:

Joe Schmoe

Agreed. I find the endless bad luck to be a bit of a stretch, and it makes their stories predictable.

Daytripper

Wow, was tonight's episode ever bad ( "Halloween and The Election vs. The Pandemic"). The writing was just terrible. I've enjoyed every episode of "The Conners" so far, but this was the worst. Painfully unfunny. Hope this was just a bump in the road.

Coral

Yea, crappy episode... and extra preachy.

The Halloween thing they set up for the kids was pretty lame.

Daytripper

Yeah, beyond lame. I wish Gilbert would stop acting with her arms. Every other line, both are up in the air. The actor who plays Ben has started doing that too. And Metcalf needs to do something with that hair. I know they have it that gray because of the pandemic and she's probably afraid to go to a salon. Or maybe they're not even open. But given that these guys are endlessly poor and struggling, I'm surprised her character could afford a salon in the first place except for maybe a cut. She could easily buy over the counter crap herself. I wonder if that hair is a prop because her entire head is GRAY! But I get what they going for. Here's hoping next week's episode is better. Can't be worse. Also, please bring back Crystal and Nancy for a cameo once in a while. Would love to see a girls night at someone's house with Jackie, Darlene, Becky, Ann-Marie, Crystal and Nancy. Getting drunk and playing cards or something.

Paff

Came in here and thought everyone would be talking about Michael Fishman's acting (not his directing, that was....adequate). He hasn't been on the show much, and I think this was the first time they really tried giving him a "dramatic" scene and he was totally unconvincing. I know he didn't pursue acting as a career, and it showed.

That said, I got a chuckle out of Harris attacking Dan with the giant ant costume. Coincidence, or was it truly a reference to Lawrence Woolsey's epic monster movie, Mant!
If it was the latter, then it was a great episode regardless of everything else.

DWilson

I had too many shows running concurrently to DVR the episode, and from the title alone , I thought I might just skip this one.

mickey65

Shortly after watching last night's episode, I came across an article on FB about him. Apparently he lost his son (who he adopted) to a drug overdose in June. He's a father of 4 kids. Last night's episode and how emotional he was about Mary, seemed to make more sense after I saw it.

Joe Schmoe

Preachy and not funny at all. Wish they'd hire new writers.

windom

For people with no money, it seems like they spend a lot of money on Halloween decorations and costumes. Maybe it's stuff that has been accumulated over the years, like Becky's costume, but most of it seemed new. Where do you find giant ant arms?

Becky and Dan seem to have forgotten that Dan has 4 kids, not 3.

Joe Schmoe

Just as the family seems to have forgotten that Jackie had a son with ex-husband Fred. I keep hoping they'll explain that she's estranged from her son or that he died at some point after "Roseanne" ended the first time.

Quatermass

Dan's father (who was a movie producer/promoter) came to Lanford for the premiere of the movie "Mant" in 1960 and had the mandibles stored in his basement.

Daytripper

Not good folks. The ratings are dropping like a stone.

https://www.showbiz411.com/2020/10/2...of-last-season

https://tvseriesfinale.com/tv-show/t...three-ratings/

DWilson

Speaking for myself, Wednesday at 8pm Central is a busy slot for me, and "The Conners", -being a half-hour sitcom, -is easier to catch later. Big Brother is gone, and American Ninja has one more week, though next week Amazing Race has two episodes.

Paff

By the way, some of y'all take this too seriously. It's a sitcom. Sitcom. Written by and performed by people in California, so let it slide if they get a Illinois phrasing wrong here and there. And the sitcom world is littered with families who could never afford the places they live in. Monica and Rachel in Friends, Homer Simpson, Al Bundy, the list goes on.

Coral

Yeah, the family seems to be horrible with money - which explains why they're always in poor financial shape. Darlene was taking them out to eat (even though it wound up being closed), but it shows they like to waste money. Plus beer costs money as well. Sadly, I often hear people complaining about money and yet I see/hear about them eating out most nights and constantly upgrading their phones, etc. It really feels like nowadays most people don't want to sacrifice anything - they want something and the're not going to do without it no matter what.

Probably just ditched the idea of that extra kid once Barr got kicked off the show.

To be honest, the acting isn't much better from Goranson. She overacts her lines and puts too much punch in the comedic parts.

Paff

There was an episode of King of the Hill, I don't remember exactly everything that happened, but the gist was that Hank learned his co-worker Enrique was about to lose his home, which surprised Hank since it wasn't like he didn't have a job or anything. Over the episode Hank teaches Enrique to be more financially responsible, they save his home and build up his savings. Then at the end of the episode, Enrique blows all the money he's saved on his daughter's quincenera.

There's a phrase about fools and their money...

Coral

I find it happens a lot in sitcoms, although it's not usually questioned by any other characters.
I even remember the relaunch of Roseanne a couple years ago. Dan told Chuck that he had to hire cheaper labor to compete for a contract instead of Chuck because he's hurting for cash. Chuck was hurting as well. At the end of the episode, Dan and Chuck wind up getting some contracts or something - and Dan gives money to Chuck for him to go on a vacation. Money's tight and when you get a little bit you take a vacation? Really?

That 70's Show did the same thing. Red was unemployed for a while and money was tight. He finally got a job as a store manager and he immediately buys a motorcycle.

I'd like to say that these shows are unrealistic - but I'm finding out that it's alarmingly pretty common.

windom

Hey, if I can't complain about things on The Connors, I'll have to go back to to pointing out timeline inaccuracies on The Goldbergs and people were getting sick of that!

Was Dan a drywall guy back on the original show? I can't remember.

Daytripper

HA! Didn't even think about that. Just where did they find those? Also, I hope Mark's costume was rented. That one would have cost a fortune to buy. No way Jackie made that.

Double_Oh_7

Laurie Metcalf is an Illinois native... just sayin'.

windom

TVline was also curious about them saying Dan had only 3 children:
https://tvline.com/2020/10/29/the-co...eanne-dan-son/

rduncan

Great thing about that link, and often others, is reading the comments at the end of the story. Some people really get into "their" shows.

Josh-da-man

They should have Andy and Jerry show up, and have them played by Jeremy Allen White and Monaghan, respectively. Keep the trend going...